It's not over 'til it's over
by finnfiction13
Summary: Hermione and Ginny are in love. Of course, there are obstacles to overcome and a lot of drama on the way...Warning: might contain femslash at some point.
1. Ch 1  Draco was in the neighbourhood

_Authors notes:_

This is my first published story. I have another one in the pipeline (with an idea and structure and everything else, yes really), but that won't be published for a while. In the meantime, I started this one and I'm not sure yet where it will go. We'll find out together, I guess. Be warned: This might at some point get slightly femslashy, so if you're not into that, skip those parts or don't read this at all. If you like it, please review or if you have any ideas on where the story should go, I'm thankful for any kind of input.

_Disclaimer:_ Obviously, I don't own any of the characters except for one and all the rest belongs to JKR.

**Chapter One - Draco was in the neighbourhood**

There was a knock on the door. Valerie put down her cup of tea and got up from the computer to answer it. Standing in front of her was a well groomed, handsome, blond man . She looked at him questioningly and waited for him to speak.  
"Hello. My name is Draco Malfoy. Is Hermione home?", he said in what he thought was his most charming voice.

"Nope, and who are you exactly?", said Valerie, completely unimpressed.  
"Erm...I'm...We're old friends. We went to school together.", Draco answered a little bit thrown off.  
"Draco, you said?" Valerie searched her memory for the name, "No, doesn't ring a bell. Anyway, Hermione isn't home, but I'll let her know you were here. Do you want me to leave her a message or something?"  
"No, no. That's fine. I was just in the neighbourhood and I thought I'd try my luck and drop by. To talk about old times, you know," Draco explained. It was harder to charm his way past the young woman in the door frame than he thought. He should have known better than to use Gilderoy Lockharts Charming Charm.

Valerie wasn't sure about the man in front of her. The polite thing would be to invite him in, offer some tea and let him wait for Hermione since she would be home in a couple of minutes anyway. But why had Hermione never mentioned Draco before if they were friends? And what kind of name was Draco anyway? Then again, she didn't talk much about her teenage life, so there were probably a lot of people she hadn't mentioned. "Would you like to come in and wait for her?" Valerie heard herself say, "She should be home soon."  
Draco's eyes lit up, "Yes, that would be very nice indeed. Thank you and I promise not to keep you from whatever you were doing." And with that Draco was inside and looking around at what he could see of the small flat.

There was a fireplace with pictures of Hermione, Ron, Harry and several other people on the mantelpiece. They were not moving, although Draco knew they should be. Hermione must have fixed them. In front of the fireplace were a very comfortable looking couch and two armchairs surrounding a small wooden coffee table. Everything was tastefully decorated. Then Draco's eyes fell on a small display of Hermione's Head Girl Badge and other awards she won in service to all wizardkind. Draco's mouth twitched a bit. Most dominantly there were books everywhere. Bookshelves lined almost all the walls from top to bottom. There were stacks of books on the floor. Obviously, there was no space for them on the shelves.

"Would you care for some tea, perhaps?" Valerie offered, "or something stronger?"  
"I wouldn't say no to a glass of whiskey, if it's not too much hassle," Draco answered truthfully. He might need a little liquid courage for what he was trying to do.  
"Coming right up," Valerie smiled and motioned to the couch, "You can take a seat if you like. Hermione will still be a couple of minutes."

"Thank you.", Draco smiled politely and went to sit down while Valerie disappeared into the kitchen. Two minutes later she came back with two glasses and a bottle of Ogden's Old Firewhiskey.  
"I found this in the back of the shelf. It seems to be the only Whiskey we have. I've never heard of it, must be something Hermione bought," Valerie said while filling up two glasses.  
"I'm sure it's fine," Draco smiled and held up his glass, "Cheers."  
"Cheers", Valerie said and took a sip. "Wow, this is...wow." She managed to say in between coughs, "I can't believe Hermione bought this. She's such a lightweight. One drop of that and she's drunk, I'm sure of it!"  
And right on cue, Hermione turned the key in the lock and entered the scene.


	2. Ch 2  Can't be choosers

_Authors note:_ Since the first chapter was so short and I had the second one already written I put it up as well. Thanks to my wife/editor for proof reading.

_Disclaimer:_ Again, I do not own any of this except for one character.

**Chapter Two - Can't be choosers**

When she saw Valerie sitting on the couch and laughing with none other than Draco Malfoy, she stopped dead in her tracks. They looked up and saw Hermione kicking the door shut with her foot and glinting dangerously at Draco.

Valerie instantly put down her glass and got up, "Hi Hermione. Draco here was in the neighbourhood and said he wanted to drop by and chat about old times. He said you two were in school together? I hope it's OK I invited him in." She had a feeling it wasn't.  
Hermione turned her eyes away from Draco and looked at her flat mate, "Could you give us a minute, Val?"

It was obvious to Valerie that something was going on here that she had missed. Knowing Hermione it was best to just give in to her request. She grabbed her glass and went back to her room to pick up on the work she had abandoned when she had opened the door.  
"What are you doing here?" Hermione hissed as soon as her flat mate was out of earshot.  
"Please hear me out before you chew my head off, Grang...- Hermione." Draco said, holding up is hands defensively.  
"You have two minutes. Spill," Hermione said impatiently. Clearly, she'd much rather kick him out.

Draco put down his glass of firewhiskey and started to talk, "The trials for all the Death Eaters are about to start and they will start with the lower ranks."  
"I know all that Draco, I'm sure you don't want to use your two minutes to recite something I'm already familiar with," Hermione interrupted him.  
"Well, yes. The thing is, my parents will probably be tried as some of the last people and we both know it might take another year or two until we're there. Until then all the Malfoy financial assets are frozen and I'm sort of...well, I need...can you maybe..." Draco's mouth twitched, "I'm broke," he concluded.

Hermione looked at him, obviously amused, "I can't believe it! Draco Malfoy comes to me begging for money. This is too good! I have to tell Harry and the others." Hermione's laugh reverberated through the room. Draco blushed a deep red. He had feared this would happen.  
"I knew it was a stupid idea to come here. Just forget what I said." Draco said and started towards the door, but Hermione took him by his arm and held him back, "I'm sorry Draco. I didn't mean to laugh at your misery. But you have to agree, it is somewhat amusing."  
"Are you willing to help me out or not?" Draco asked.  
"And what do you suppose I should do? Give you a loan?" Hermione shrugged.  
"You work in the minister's office! Can't you pull some strings?" Draco pleaded.  
"Look, Draco, I might work in his office, but I'm not him. And even if I were the Minister, there is nothing I could do. Those assets are frozen for a reason. I fear you will have to resort to more ordinary ways to get money. Earn it!" Hermione explained. Draco looked crushed and was about to protest but the look Hermione shot him made him close his mouth tout de suite.  
"I'm afraid there is nothing I can do for you in that regard and now please leave my flat and don't ever charm your way past my flatmate again!" Hermione said as she held open the door for him.  
As soon as it was closed, Hermione started to chuckle again. This was too funny, she had to write a letter to Harry. She went to her room, found some parchment and a quill and wrote,

Dear Harry,

you won't believe what just happened. Draco Malfoy came to my flat and asked for money. He is broke because all the Malfoy accounts are frozen. I have to give it to him, he has guts. Coming over here and asking me to abuse my position in the Ministry to get him back his trust fund.  
I hope everything is alright again with you and Ginny. This fight sounded rather nasty. You really should come over for dinner some time and we can talk about it.

All the best,  
Hermione

She put the letter into an envelope, sealed it with red wax and her personal seal (a small otter circling around the letters H and G) and went to the window and holding out an owl treat she called for Tyton. A few seconds later a grand Barn Owl landed on the window sill. She gave him the letter and sent him on his way.

Hermione sighed as she went to the kitchen to whip up some food. Living with a Muggle made a lot of things very complicated, but the anonymity paid off hundredfold. She couldn't have moving pictures in the house or keep her owl inside, most of the books had Disillusionment Charms on them and cooking was a lot slower when Valerie was in the kitchen with her. But living with her also meant that she didn't have to deal with tons of wizard reporters outside her house or "fans" that wanted an autograph or Harry's address.

After the Battle of Hogwarts, Hermione had lived with Ginny and her parents at the Burrow for a while but even though Molly was the perfect host, Hermione wanted to have a place for herself. She moved into a little house in a remote magical area of London only to find that reporters and fans camped outside to get a glimpse of her when she left it to catch some fresh air, go to the market or something similar. Harry and Ron had not fared any better. After the war, everyone knew about 12, Grimmault Place and no Charm in the world was able to protect them from the hoards of people who wanted to meet them. After all they had saved the world. A lot.  
She rented a small apartment right in the heart of Muggle London and put out an ad in a Muggle newspaper, looking for a room mate. That was when Valerie moved in with her.  
After the excitement for her person had died down a bit, Hermione had gotten used to living just around the corner from the Ministry without anyone knowing. Despite all restrictions that came with living with a Muggle, it was a quite acceptable solution, she thought.


	3. Ch 3 Making Plans

A/N: So here we go. I got the wife to read the third chapter today. Yay! Please enjoy and let me know what you think. Useful feedback is always welcome.

Disclaimer: ...not mine...belongs to JKR...blablabla

**Chapter Three - Making plans**

The following Sunday afternoon Hermione came into the living room with a plate full of chicken sandwiches and put it the coffee table. Valerie looked up from her laptop and reached for a sandwich, "Thanks. I'm actually quite hungry." They often spent their Sunday together like that. Each woman doing her own thing, but occasionally falling into conversation for a while before going back to their book or computer or whatever it was they were busy with.

"I invited Harry to come to Dinner tomorrow, if you don't mind. I haven't properly seen him in ages," Hermione started the conversation.  
Valerie nodded, taking a bite of her sandwich, "I always tell you, you need to make more time for your friends!"  
"You know full well that I don't choose to work so much." said Hermione half-heartedly, knowing it was a lie. Valerie just gave her the look. There was no need to say anything, they both knew that look. Valerie used it a lot when she knew Hermione was making up excuses for things.  
"I assume Harry will bring Ginny?" said Valerie probingly.  
"Yes. At least he said so. He said he had something to celebrate. I wish Ron could come too. The more people in the room the easier it is to avoid Ginny." sighed Hermione.  
Valerie put her laptop away and took a deep breath before saying, "You know, you could just tell her. Then you wouldn't have to walk on eggshells all the time or fall back on the I-pretend-to-not-like-you tactics."  
"I can't just tell her. Harry is my best friend, think of the position I'd put him in. Neither would I want to put her in that position. It's all too complicated and I'll get over it if I just ignore it long enough." Hermione said, sounding very unconvinced.  
"We need a plan." Valerie stated matter of factly, ignoring Hermione's reasoning.  
"No, we don't need a plan. We need to let time pass and everything will be fine." Hermione slightly panicked.  
"I'll cook. Harry always asks if he can help. So this time, instead of politely declining the offer, I'll let him help me in the kitchen while you and Ginny have all the time in the world to talk in the living room. I can stall Harry for a good 20 minutes. That should be enough for you to find a way to talk to her." Valerie sounded very pleased with her plan, "No." Hermione said flatly, "No. No. No. I'm not going to tell Ginny I fancy her while her boyfriend is in the kitchen cooking our dinner! What if she freaks, what if she just runs out, what if she runs into the kitchen screaming to Harry about what I said? There are too many flaws in your plan."  
"Hermione, calm down. You realise that this phase that you're talking about has now been lasting for two years. So we can safely assume that it won't go away. Trust me. Been there, done that. You avoid Ginny every chance you get so meeting up with her alone will seem a bit weird. Your only chance to talk to her is in a situation like this!" Valerie was beginning to lose her patience, again. They'd had versions of this conversation about a thousand times and she had enough.  
"But..." Hermione started but Valerie cut her off, "No but! I've had enough. I see how you're doing. I live with you, damn it. You are miserable! You come home late at night from work and go in so early the birds haven't even noticed it's daytime. On the rare occasions that you come home earlier than nine you sit around and read depressing romance novels or complain to me about how life sucks. I swear to God, if you don't talk to her on Monday, I will do it for you!"  
Hermione's eyes widened with shock. The thought of Valerie telling Ginny that Hermione had been secretly in love with her for the better part of two years now was unpleasant, to say the least.  
"Fine, I'll try and talk to her. But that's all I'm agreeing to. I'll TRY and talk to her. If there just isn't a way to get that kind of conversation going, I will not force it" Hermione gave in.

Valerie smiled, pleased with her victory. She picked up her laptop again and went back to her work.  
Hermione buried herself in her "romance novel" which was really a book about the Wizarding trials of the first Wizarding War. She had disguised most of the books dealing with magic as romance novels, knowing Valerie would never go near one of them. And should she ever open one of the books nonetheless, all she would find was the urgent need to put the book back on the shelf and read one of her own books.

Hermione wasn't really able to concentrate. There were thoughts chasing each other in her head. She could ask Ginny about Harry and their latest fight, but that would maybe only lead to Ginny trying to rant about Harry's behaviour. She could try and tell her she wanted to rebuild their friendship, that she regretted how distant they had grown over the years and that she missed her best friend, but that would probably require a lot more explanation in the process. Like, why reconnect now and why did she distance herself in the first place and so on. Hermione sat there, occasionally flipping a page or two, pretending to read until it was getting dark outside. Hermione snapped her book shut. "I need to get some sleep!" she said and went straight to bed, to escape her thoughts of Hermione woke up she smelt coffee from the kitchen. Before she could get out of bed the door opened and Ginny walked in with a tray of breakfast foods, "I didn't know what you'd want. I hope you're up for ham and eggs?"

Hermione looked at the tray with hungry eyes and nodded, "You gave me quite a workout last night, I'm starving."  
Ginny smiled mischievously, "Go ahead and eat, you'll need it!"  
"What is your plan, Ginevra?" Hermione said between bites.  
"Oh, nothing special," Ginny answered nonchalantly, "I'll just kiss you for a bit," she said crawling behind a sitting and eating Hermione and kissing her neck, "and I'll touch you for a while," she continued while running her fingers along Hermione's thighs underneath the blanket.  
Hermione stopped forking around in her food and swallowed heavily. She carefully pushed away the tray and gave in to Ginny's tender attempts to distract her.  
"Aww. That was way too easy", Ginny said, faking disappointment. Hermione could feel Ginny's hands crawling under her pyjama top, slowly making their way to her breasts. Hermione was so giddy with anticipation that she forgot to breathe. Ginny softly bit her neck and then expertly got rid of Hermione's pyjama top. That was when Hermione remembered that thing about the oxygen and inhaled deeply. Ginny climbed on top of Hermione and started to caress her breasts with her tongue leaving Hermione nothing to do but to give in to her lover and a soft moan escaped her lips. Ginny took her time, running her fingers along Hermione's body and exploring every inch with her soft lips. Hermione had closed her eyes and was writhing underneath Ginny. She was close to exploding with impatience for what might happen next and the burning tension between her legs was getting close to unbearable, when she heard a loud bang in the kitchen. She rapidly sat up in her bed and opened her eyes. Ginny was gone, so was the tray of breakfast. All that was left was the muffled clankering in the kitchen and the smell of coffee.

Hermione sighed with disappointment and fell back into her pillows, secretly hoping that it hadn't all been a dream, that Ginny _would_ walk into her room any second now.  
She looked at the clock: 5 a.m. She heard someone tip toeing back to Valeries room, probably her latest conquest. She hated waking up in the middle of these dreams. It usually left her on edge for the rest of the day. But she didn't want to give in to her desires and go for a quick release. Ginny didn't even know that she fancied her so pleasuring herself thinking about the red head seemed wrong. Usually, those dreams weren't quite so vivid though, so Hermione gave in. She had a busy day at work ahead of her plus the dinner in the evening. She really couldn't carry all that pent up sexual energy around. She told herself that given that she needed a clear head tonight, she might as well allow herself the pleasure this one time and she slid her hand down into her pyjama bottoms.


	4. Ch 4 The Dinner

A/N: This one's a little long - I apologize. Hope you still like it though.

Disclaimer: Still not mine, still not earning money with it...

**Chapter Four - The Dinner**

Hermione was still at the office when Harry and Ginny arrived. They had apparated to a dark alley near the apartment building and walked the rest of the way. Valerie had made them some tea and repeatedly glanced nervously at the old grandfather clock standing next a bookshelf. It was nearly, 7.30 p.m. Where the hell was Hermione? Harry followed her gaze and looked at that very same grandfather clock seeing something very different. The dials moved from "work" to "travelling". "She'll be home in no time," he said to calm down Valerie.  
A minute later Hermione stormed through the door, "So sorry I'm late. The Minister wanted my consult on a case," she explained.  
"It's okay. I haven't even started cooking yet," Valerie said, and as expected Harry offered his help. They both went into the kitchen, Valerie carefully closing the door "to keep the living room smell free".

Hermione sat down in one of the armchairs and Ginny stretched out on the couch. "Ouch. That really must have hurt," Hermione started the conversation pointing at a nasty bruise on Ginny's wrist.  
"Nah, I can hardly feel it compared to the pain in my chest. I cracked three ribs at yesterday's game," Ginny said with a dismissive move of her healthy hand.  
"Merlin Ginny, one day you're going to fall off that broom and break every bone in your body," Hermione said, nervously wringing her hands.  
_We've grown apart quite a bit, but I can stil see when she's nervous about something_, Ginny thought to herself. "So, how's work. You seem very busy," said Ginny ignoring Hermione's nerves.  
"Work is piling up now with the trials starting. I mean, not that we haven't been busy the last two years, but now that we're almost done with preparations the trials can actually begin. Unfortunately, the end of the wizarding war means the beginning of a paperwork war," Hermione tried to joke. _What's wrong with you? _she thought. _Could you have made a more stupid joke about the war? Seriously Granger, get a grip and change the topic!_ But Hermione drew a blank and went with the first thought in her head, "Ginny, you don't have to answer if you're uncomfortable with it. After all, Harry is my best friend," Hermione scolded herself for her phrasing, recognising the hurt look on Ginny's face, "I know you and Harry had another fight last week. He tells me about them. I-I just...I guess, I'd like to hear you're version of it all."

The question took Ginny by surprise. The fights had started months ago. Everyone seemed to know about them, the whole Weasley clan at least, but they chose to ignore them or were dismissing them as a rough patch. Hermione was the first person to actually talk to her about it. "To be honest there is not much to say," Ginny started, "We've had some disagreements before. But this time there is no way to embellish it. It was a huge fight."  
Hermione didn't say anything but waited for the redhead to continue her story.  
"He wants me to quit Quidditch," the young witch blurted out.  
"WHAT?" Hermione said a little too loud, "He said that? I mean, were those his words? I can't believe it."  
"Yes, those words are his. He says it's drawing too much attention to us again. Now that the whole celebrity thing has died down. He even said I was doing it on purpose to anger him."  
"I can't believe the nerve of that man! You love Quidditch, it's your life! How can he ask you to give that up?" Hermione had talked herself into a complete rage and forgotten her promise to try and confess her love for Ginny. Instead she jumped up from the couch and stomped in the direction of the kitchen door. Just when she was about to open the door, she felt a hand on her arm, holding her back, "Please don't," Ginny quietly said, "I know you want to go in there and give Harry a piece of your mind, but I'm asking you not to. I've decided to leave him. I already talked to the coach, she said I could move into team quarters for as long as I like it there. He doesn't know yet. I didn't want to ruin his big announcement. He said he had to tell us all something."  
Hermione looked at Ginny dumbfounded. She dearly hoped her face wouldn't give away how happy she was at the prospect of Ginny being single again soon. Harry was her best friend, but right now she was too angry with him to let that count.

"If you ever need someone to talk to or a place to stay, you don't even have to ask. You're always welcome here," Hermione graciously offered, not completely without ulterior motives, "Just remember to come in through the door," she added.  
Ginny nodded and hugged Hermione, if only briefly. They had just rebuilt a bit of their friendship and she clearly didn't want to push her luck too much.

"You know I will kick him out at your will. Just say the word. I'm so mad at him right now. All the time when he talked about your fights he would not give a reason, saying that it was too private and that you surely didn't want him airing out your dirty laundry," Hermione was still fumimg. Ginny hugged her again, this time a little bit longer, "You really don't have to do that. I want to hear Harry's announcement. I still care about him. I just realized that we are not good for each other in a relationship. Thank you for your offer of a place to stay though. I might take you up on that if I get fed up with team quarters. There is a reason why they are for the visiting team." said Ginny, squeezing Hermione's hand reassuringly. The sudden displays of affection made Hermione's face turn gradually redder. She decided that now was definitely not the time to be brave and confess any love for anyone and swallowed the words she had prepared for Ginny. "Come on, let's see if they need help in the kitchen." Hermione said instead.

"We're almost ready," said Valerie with a look on her face that only one person in the kitchen knew how to read. Hermione motioned for Ginny to sit down while she set the table. Harry sat down next to Ginny. Valerie plated the food and Hermione helped her carry it to the table.  
"Enjoy, everyone!" said Valerie and shot Hermione another look trying to find out if she had gone through with the plan. Hermione shook her head no for only her flat mate to see, who in return gave her a questioning look. Hermione ignored it and started the conversation, "So, Harry what is your big announcement?"

Harry took a deep breath and proudly announced, "Robards is stepping down and I'm to be head of department!"  
Valerie squealed with delight, "That's great, Harry! I understand if you can't go into detail, but Head of Department surely sounds like quite a feat!" When they first met, Harry had told her that his job was top secret and that he really coudn't talk about it. Valerie sort of drew her own conclusions from that, believing he was in MI6 or something. He could not very well tell her he was quite the successful Auror.

Ginny smiled politely, she was happy for Harry but preoccupied and Hermione was still too angry to be properly happy for him. She tried to disguise her anger with a smile but failed miserably.  
They finished their dinner. Hermione and Ginny relied heavily on Valerie to keep the conversation going. It was practical she didn't know what their earlier talk was about. When they were done eating Harry couldn't bear it anymore. He had noticed Hermione's sour expression every time she looked at him, "Hermione, can I talk to you for a second. In private." They excused themselves and disappeared into Hermione's room.

"What's up with you today?" he snapped without warning.  
"What do you mean, Harry? Everything is fine," she tried to play dumb.  
"Don't insult my intelligence, Hermione! I know something is up. You smile warmly at Ginny and have fun with Val but every time you turn your head in my direction I get the glare of death!" Harry grew impatient.  
"I can't really talk about it Harry. I promised." Hermione said.  
"It was Ginny, right? She told you about our fight, is that it?" Harry's impatience grew.  
"Yes. She did. And for the record I was prepared to take your side on this whole issue, but now that I know what really happened I won't anymore." Hermione answered.  
"What's so wrong about wanting Ginny to stop drawing more attention to us?" Harry sounded clueless.  
"What's so wrong? Are you seriously asking me that? You have to be kidding, Harry! It's what she does, you git! Her job is her life, it's all she ever wanted to be and you tell her to stop?" Hermione spat.  
"She just enjoys the attention she gets a little too much." Harry knew he was fighting a losing battle but wasn't ready to give in to his best friend.  
But that did it for her. Hermione lost it completely and yelled at Harry loud enough for the whole building to hear, "You're an idiot, Harry! Ginny's love and affection are the best thing that could ever happen to you, or anyone for that matter, but you stomp on it with your feet. You should crawl on your knees thanking that wonderful woman for being with you every day. God knows, I would. I know you guys have hit a rough spot a while ago, but you can take full credit for the failure of this relationship. I thought you were being respectful, not wanting to "air Ginny's dirty laundry", not even to me, but you were just covering your tracks. You lied to me, Harry, and you can start guessing how disappointed I am in you." Hermione stopped yelling, a bit exhausted by her outburst. She knew she had somewhat overreacted but it had been gnawing at her that Ginny was with Harry and not her and now all the frustration wanted out. Harry stood in front of her completely deflated.  
"I need to leave now. Tell Valerie I'm sorry, the food was delicious." he said meekly. He left Hermione alone in her room and took off.

The witch sat down on her bed and scolded herself for losing her temper. She had wanted to stick to Ginny's plan of not saying anything and just celebrating his promotion, but she couldn't help being mad at him. And he'd started the conversation, she told herself.  
Hermione was pulled from her thoughts by a knock on the door frame. She looked up and saw Ginny standing in the open door.

"I couldn't help but hear what you said and I wanted to thank you for defending me," she smiled. Ginny walked over, grabbed Hermione's office char and sat down in front of the bed facing Hermione.  
Hermione looked into Ginny's hazel eyes and a familiar warmth spread through her body. She knew she couldn't wait any longer.  
"Ginny, I accused Harry of lying to me, while not being completely honest myself," she started.  
Ginny looked confused, "What do you mean?"  
Hermione took a deep breath and said, "I don't really know how to say it without sounding stupid...I sort of like you." Hermione didn't go on, she stared at her hands to avoid Ginny's gaze.  
"You like me? You mean, you fancy me? How long, Hermione?" Ginny asked.  
Hermione lifted her head and got lost in Ginny's eyes again.  
"Two years." she admitted sheepishly.  
Ginny nodded and came over to sit next to Hermione on the bed, "Remember your birthday last year, the party that Mum organized at the Burrow?"  
Hermione nodded and said, "You didn't score a single goal in that Quidditch game." _And what did that have to do with anything?_  
Ginny smiled, "Yes, and do you know why that was?"  
Hermione shook her head, confused.  
"You. I was so busy looking at you sitting in the grass reading a book that I didn't know where the Quaffle was half the time. The sun caught your hair and it had that golden shimmer to it. And you were completely immersed in that book Harry had given you. I had never seen anything more beautiful than the sight of you. And it hit me right there and then that I didn't see you as the best friend I had grown apart from but something more than that," Ginny explained and seemed to get more nervous with every word.  
Hermione could hardly breathe and her heart was pounding so loud, she had difficulties following Ginny's words.  
"Why did you not say anything?" she managed to say.  
"I was afraid. I was already missing my best friend like hell and I really didn't want to jeopardize this already frail friendship with something I couldn't even put my finger on at the time. And the more time I let pass the worse it got. I couldn't talk to you without getting nervous. I was afraid you might catch on and freak out. I mean, I never thought you were a homophobe or anything, but I really had no idea how you would react if I told you that I liked you."  
"So we were both afraid to say anything, and consequently let our friendship deteriorate for fear of the other one finding out about our feelings for each other?" Hermione asked.  
"Seems like a really stupid thing now, doesn't it?" Ginny laughed.  
Ginny took Hermione's hands into her own. "You can relax now, Hermione. It's out in the open."  
"Yes, but do you...I mean...are you still..." Hermione stammered and inwardly scolded herself for her incapability to form a coherent sentence.  
"Oh, yes. Yes! Definitely. In fact, I don't agree with your little outburst before, it's not entirely Harry's fault that we never really recovered from our rough patch. If I didn't have these feeling for you...," Ginny said and immediately regretted her wording, when she saw Hermione's guilty face.  
"Please don't feel responsible. You didn't even do anything! You were nothing but wonderful and that sort of contributed to Harry and me fighting. I was trying to push away any thought of you and was so preoccupied doing that, that I spent no quality time with Harry anymore. My heart hasn't been in it for a while now." Ginny squeezed Hermione's hand, sending waves of warmth through her body.

"What do we do now?" Hermione asked the obvious.  
Ginny kept silent and insecurely bit her lower lip before drawing Hermione's head closer with both her hands. She closed her eyes and put her lips on Hermione's.  
She enjoyed every second of it. She felt Ginny's fingers entangled in her hair and her lips tasted sweet against her own. When Ginny retreated, Hermione kept her eyes shut.  
"It's okay, you can open your eyes. I won't go away," Ginny smiled.  
"I'm afraid this is just another dream and I'll wake up when I open my eyes," Hermione grimaced, her eyes still shut tightly.  
Ginny leaned in for another kiss and then whispered, "I promise it's not a dream."  
Hermione finally opened her eyes and caught Ginny's gaze. They both smiled at each other.  
"Finally," Valerie said, standing in the door way.

The two witches turned their heads and blushed. Hermione found a pillow and half-heartily threw it at Valerie feigning indignation. "I imagine you have a lot to talk about. I'll be in my room if you need me. For anything, really," Valerie added with her trademark mischievous grin.  
All three of them laughed, relieved that the tension was gone while Valerie left the room throwing back the pillow.

"She doesn't really mean it, right?" Ginny inquired playfully.  
Hermione snickered, "To be honest you never know with her, but I don't think so." And then getting a bit more serious again, "She is right though, we have a quite a bit to talk about."  
"Do you want to give this a try?" Ginny asked bluntly.  
"Yes," said Hermione a little bit too quickly. She knew she wanted nothing more than to give this a fair chance. Surprised by the quick answer Ginny said, "You've given this quite a bit of thought, haven't you?"  
Hermione nodded. All of a sudden Ginny got up and started pacing the room. Hermione followed her with her eyes. She looked cute, when she was all worked up. "I will apparate over to Harry's and break up with him today. I hadn't planned on doing it until tomorrow or the day after, but the time is as good as any," she plotted.  
"And then you'll come straight back here and we talk some more?" Hermione added hopefully.  
Ginny nodded, "Be right back, love." She planted a shy kiss on Hermione's lips and disapparated before Hermione could react. Feeling a bit alone in her room and still tasting Ginny's lips on her own, she went to the kitchen and quickly magicked herself some hot cocoa. She smiled foolishly to herself carried her cup back to her bedroom to wait for Ginny. She figured it might take a while for her to return and found herself a book to read. Ginny and Harry probably had quite a bit to talk about too, after almost 4 years together.

But, as soon as Hermione had found the right page in her book, she heard a silent crack. _That was fast_, she thought and then saw the grim expression on Ginny's face.  
"What's wrong? What did he do now?" Hermione assumed they had another fight.  
Ginny just shook her head, sat down on the bed and handed Hermione a piece of parchment.  
It was a letter from Harry.

My dearest Ginny,

I wanted to be here, when you returned from Hermione's. I guess, you were able to hear just about everything we said. There is a lot to talk about and a lot of work ahead of us, of me, really. I wish I was here to tell you this in person but the Ministry called me in for an emergency. I hope to be back by Sunday and woul'd love to spend my day with you at the Burrow. I always feel the world is okay when we attend those Sunday family gatherings.  
I'm truly sorry if I gave you the feeling that I take you for granted and and I'm even more sorry if you feel underappreciated. There was a lot of truth in Hermione's words.  
I'm not giving up on this, on us. I will work for your love and I will make things better. I promise.

Love always,  
Harry

Hermione handed the letter back to Ginny. Great. Now that everything had seemed like Lady Luck was swinging her way it was all going down the drain again. She didn't stand a chance against a big romantic sap like Harry. And she didn't want to be competing against her best friend anyway. She wanted to be with Ginny, that was all she really cared about.  
"Will you let me in on your thoughts?" Ginny said gently touching Hermione's shoulder.  
"Honestly? I don't know what to do. All I want is to be with you and find out where this would go. I believe we could be great together, but Harry's letter is discouraging. He loves you and really wants to fight for you. I fear that he might succeed and I'll be stuck by myself again." Hermione confessed.

Ginny listened intently and finally said, "Hermione, I'm willing to give this a chance. For me that means commitment and loyalty. Harry can shower me with roses and carry me everywhere on his hands and I'll still be with you and only you - if we both agree to give this a chance."  
"Mostly I'm afraid of what might happen if we don't make it. It was hard enough not being able to be with you, knowing I can never have you. But now that there is a chance of that I'm afraid of losing you losing your friendship too," Hermione said quietly.

"That will not happen. I say we try this. We have both waited for so long it would be sacrilegious to just let it slip away. I'm committed if you are. And should we discover along the way that we don't work out as a couple, I vow to you here and now, that I will never let our friendship suffer because of it. Never again." Ginny said, lifting her left hand and placing it on her heart. The dramatic gesture made Hermione laugh and she realised that it had been quite a while since she'd felt like laughing.  
"What about Harry though?" Hermione interjected her own laughter, "He won't be back until Sunday. It will be the hardest week I've ever had. Knowing we both want this, while all the time I know it's not possible because you're still officially with Harry," she added a bit frustrated.  
"Hermione, I'm not a cheater but I've not really been in this relationship for a while now. Like I said, it's not entirely Harry's fault that we didn't work out. I'll break up with him on Sunday but I don't see the harm in taking you out on a date in the meantime," Ginny tried to persuade Hermione.  
Hermione raised one eyebrow, "You want to take me out on a date? A proper date?" Hermione's thoughts started racing, she hadn't been on a date in forever, at least not on a date that she wanted to turn out well. I don't even have anything to wear, she thought to herself.  
"Don't panic! "said Ginny, suspecting what sort of thoughts might be causing Hermione's expression, "I thought I'd take you out to dinner. Maybe to a Muggle restaurant to avoid Rita Skeeter and her minions. What do you think about that?"  
"I'd love that." Hermione beamed with joy.  
"I'll pick you up on Friday after work. Wear something fancy!"  
_Friday,_ Hermione thought, _are you trying to kill me? That's 5 days! I will have gone mad until then!_


	5. Ch 5 The Date

A/N: Sorry, it took a bit for me to update. But the chapter is long, I hope that makes up for the wait. I'm always up for feedback, so please let me know what you think in the reviews.

PS: There is a problem with posting new content at the moment and it took me a while to find a workaround...

Disclaimer: Almost everything belongs to JKR. Yes, really.

**Chapter Five - The Date**

The days until Friday dragged on. Hermione had enough to do at work to keep her busy, but every time she stopped to take a little breather she felt a weird combination of happy anticipation and missing Ginny terribly. Evenings were the worst, so she tried to keep busy at work for as long as possible, but falling asleep alone knowing that she could have Ginny close, killed her. No scratch that. Waking up in the morning to a cold and empty double-bed was even worse. She wanted nothing more than to see Ginny's silky red hair on the other pillow, buryied underneath it Ginny's freckled face.  
Friday turned out to be a whole new level of a challenge. Hermione woke early, as always, got dressed, downed a quick cup of coffee (thankfully Valerie was a late riser and Hermione could brew her coffee magically) and was off to work. All within half an hour.

It turned out to be a very slow Friday and Hermione even took to reorganising her whole office, just to keep her mind off Ginny. To no avail. Ginny was everywhere Hermione went. When Hermione saw Ginny's face in an empty cup of tea she knew her case was hopeless. Divination was not something Hermione was prepared to change her mind about.  
She wrote a quick note to Ginny letting her know to pick her up at around 7 p.m. since that was a realistic time to be ready at.  
She sent a Ministry owl on the way and when she couldn't find anything to do anymore she took out her mobile phone and called Valerie.  
"Hello?" she picked up.  
"Hi Val, this is Hermione. I just wanted to know if you're already home or if you could pick up the stuff on the kitchen list on your way there?"  
"I'm still at the studio and yes I will get everything. You just go home and get ready for your date. That's really all I want you to worry about."  
"Thank you! I appreciate that."  
"I'll be home at around 6.30 p.m. I guess. See you there!"  
"Bye."  
Hermione smiled. That meant she could floo home and didn't have to worry about Valerie sitting in front of the fireplace. She looked at her watch and shrugged. She really had worked enough this week.

Five minutes later Hermione stepped out of her fireplace in her living room. She had about an hour before Valerie would get home to help her pick out an outfit. Hermione went into her room and laid out a selection of potential clothing items on the bed. She went to the bathroom and turned on the shower. While she waited for the water to heat up to her preferred temperature she got undressed and looked at herself in the mirror. Hermione wasn't completely unhappy with what she saw, but not exactly satisfied either. Being naked always made her feel vulnerable and uneasy. She thought of Ginny and how she imagined her to look. She usually wore these boyish jeans and an old ragged t-shirt but made it look sexy somehow.  
Hermione stepped into the shower and contemplated turning off the warm tap. It would get her mind out of the gutter instantly, but she knew that sadly no long term successes could be achieved with a cold shower. As soon as she'd take one step out of the shower her thoughts would be back, so she went with the hot water and enjoyed the feeling on her skin.

She toweled off quickly and used a drying and styling spell on her hair. With a towel wrapped tightly around her body she went to her room and scanned the drawers of her dresser for a special pair of underwear. Satisfied with what she found she put them on and got her bathrobe to wear until Valerie was home to help her with her outfit.  
She heard the key turn and soon enough Valerie was rattling around in the kitchen, putting away what she had bought.  
"Val, I need your fashion advice!" Hermione called out and her flat mate appeared to browse Hermione's picks.  
"Hermione, is that all you have in terms of date clothes? Let me see the rest of your stuff," Valerie said and without waiting for Hermione to protest she opened the drawers of her dresser.  
"Oh and, please, tell me you're wearing something nice underneath?" Valerie said. Hermione blushed and nodded.  
"It's your luck that you blushed just now. Tells me you are telling the truth, otherwise I would have had to check, you know." Valerie gave her a cheeky grin and then went back to growing increasingly frustrated with what she found in Hermione's dresser.  
"She said to wear something fancy. Those were her words. I don't even know what that means. Should I wear a dress or just some nice trousers and a blouse?" Hermione let herself fall on her bed.  
Valerie shrieked, "No! Get up, we might still need those clothes, you can't lie on them and wrinkle them completely. But you know what, come with me!" Valerie rushed out of the room and into her own. When Hermione walked in after her she was already throwing out stuff from her cupboard, mumbling no's and maybe's, "Hah, that's it!" Valerie said and held up a tasteful pale blue halter neck dress, just above knee length. "Try it on, come on. You'll look gorgeous!"  
"But..." Hermione tried to protest, knowing that wearing a dress with such a low cut back would mean no bra and she wasn't sure about that.  
Valerie was already tugging on her bathrobe, "Come on, Ginny is a punctual person, she'll be here in five minutes."  
"Give me the dress, I'll change in my room." Hermione interjected, feeling uneasy about her body again.  
"Hermione don't be an idiot, I have seen women naked before. I will not jump you, promised. Get on with it, there is no time." Valerie urged.  
Hermione stepped out of her bath robe and threw it at Valerie's face after seeing her sly smile, "Nice abs, Miss Granger. When did you get those?" Valerie teased.  
"I work out. Thank you very much!" Hermione pouted while stepping into the dress, "Zip me up, will you."  
"Not much to zip," Valerie kept teasing her. She took a step back to look at her friend and seemed content, "Look in the mirror. Ginny will walk you as far as your room and food will be forgotten."  
Hermione smiled when she saw herself in the mirror. She did clean up quite nicely. Happy with her looks she went to get her purse from her room, when suddenly the door bell rang.

"I'll get it!" Valerie chimed and rushed to the door.  
Ginny was in a cream coloured sundress that accentuated her curves perfectly.  
"Come in. Hermione will be out in a second. If I may say so, you both look absolutely gorgeous," Valerie said with a sigh and looked like a proud parent before her daughter's first date.  
Hermione joined them and Ginny completely forgot about her surroundings. Her jaw dropped. Hermione put her hand on Ginny's chin to close her mouth and said, "Let's get going, shall we?" She wondered about her own self-confidence and saw Valerie giving her a goofy grin and a thumbs up when she closed the door after Ginny.

"Where are we going?" Hermione asked holding onto Ginny's arm, while they stepped into the lift.  
"It's a surprise. Hold on tight. I'll apparate us." Ginny answered. A second later, when the lift came to a halt on the bottom floor, the opening doors only revealed a bit of empty space.  
Ginny and Hermione arrived in a dark cul-de-sac. "Quite dodgy, Miss Weasley!", Hermione joked.  
"Patience, love. We'll be right there and trust me, there is nothing dodgy about the restaurant." Ginny couldn't take her eyes off Hermione who in turn enjoyed the attention.  
Ginny stopped in front of a door next to a single window. Hermione looked in and saw the tiniest of restaurants. It was tastefully decorated and only had 4 tables. When they entered she saw little pieces of knick knack on the shelves, the light was dim and very flattering.

"Reservation in the name of Weasley," Ginny told the waiter that approached them. They were led into a tiny room in the back of the restaurant that was decorated much like the main room and lit with equally flattering lights. Everything looked very Art Deco. The pictures on the walls showed old advertisements.  
"This place is fantastic!" Hermione said, her eyes soaking up all the little details as she sat down.  
"I'm glad you like it. I have to warn you though, it's not entirely muggle. I met the owner at a Quidditch game. Lloyd is a squib from Bangor and always felt more at home in the Muggle world but is still very much a Harpies fan and comes to as many games as he can. I sometimes ate here when I had a fight with Harry and needed to get out of the house, that's how I know that Lloyd's chef is truly brilliant." Ginny explained.  
Hermione reached over the table to take Ginny's hand, it felt soft and warm to her touch.  
"Now who do we have here," a middle aged man interrupted them, "My favourite Chaser and this time she brought a date. It's an honour to have you here."  
"Hermione, this is Lloyd. Lloyd you might know Hermione Granger." Ginny introduced them. Lloyds eyes grew wider, "You mean THE Hermione Granger? Finally, I get to meet you."  
Hermione knew the drill. At first they were honoured to meet her and then they would start asking questions about how she helped defeat Voldemort.  
Lloyd continued, "Ginny has told me so much about you. Actually, she never shut up about you. One might start to think you were the celebrity crush of a teenage girl. Next thing she'll be selling Hermione Granger merchandise."  
Ginny blushed a deep red, "Lloyd, that really is enough. Do you want to scare her away?"  
Lloyd smiled guiltily and handed them the menu, "If you want something that is not on the menu, just let me know." And with that he was gone and the two witches were alone once more.  
"You know, he really has no idea who you are." Ginny said, seeing that Hermione didn't look entirely comfortable.  
"But he..."  
"He doesn't read the Prophet and his only contact with the wizarding world are the Quidditch games he attends. He really only knows you from what I told him." Ginny cut her off.  
Hermione visibly relaxed and got back into date mode, "So, do you already know what to eat?"  
Ginny decided on a chicken dish and Hermione settled on Risotto.

They fell into conversation very easily and Hermione had more fun than she had had in a long time.  
"Would you like some dessert?" Ginny asked a while after they had finished their main course, "They have this chocolate surprise thing, that is something dipped in dark chocolate. It can be strawberry ice cream it can be nuts or fruits or something much more elaborate. Do you want to try it?"  
Hermione nodded, she was feeling adventurous. It turned out to be fresh strawberries covered in cream then dipped in dark chocolate and rolled in almond slivers.  
"I don't think I've ever tasted anything more sinful than this," Hermione commented while putting the last bit of a strawberry into her mouth.  
Ginny raised one eyebrow, took Hermione's hand and put one of her fingers into her mouth, slowly licking it clean. She drank in Hermione's lewd look. Hermione felt shivers run down her spine and tried hard not to show Ginny how much power she had over her. All evening long she had been distracted by various parts of Ginny's appearance, The way she flicked her hair back behind her shoulders, the way she smiled and laughed, how she nervously shifted in her chair and the way she moved her lips and tongue over her finger.  
They fell back into their previous conversation, talking about Quidditch.  
"Coach says, I have a chance of making Captain next season. If I keep up working hard and scoring, of course."  
"That's fantastic news, Ginny. I'm so proud of you. Wait, that means Gwenog is retiring as Captain?" Hermione said excitedly.  
"Yes, she is not going to play next season, but she said she might be back as assistant coach after a break." explained Ginny.  
Hermione tried to stifle a yawn, but Ginny noticed and said, "You bored by my Quidditch stories?"  
"No, not at all, trust me. But I was up very early and all the fun in the world is not going to keep me awake for long." Hermione replied quickly. In no way did she want Ginny to think she wasn't enjoying herself.  
Ginny took Hermione's hands into her own and said, "How about I go all gentleman on you and walk you back home?"  
"I'd like that very much. But can we apparate the distance, I don't think I want to walk through half of London." Hermione smiled.

Ginny squired Hermione to the door to her flat, "This is the part where we say good night and I give you an earth shattering kiss to make sure you don't forget our first date. Ever."  
"Good night, then", Hermione whispered quickly before drawing Ginny's face closer and softly putting her lips on hers. Ginny started kissing her back instantly and ran her fingers through Hermione's soft hair. She let her hands travel down Hermione's bare back and stopped herself before travelling too low. Hermione's knees felt like jelly. She held on to Ginny's shoulders and neck, never breaking their kiss. They had to come up for air at some point and Hermione grinned foolishly, "Earth shattering enough for you?"  
"Mmhhmm,", Ginny mumbled, licking her lips before leaning in for another kiss. She pushed Hermione back against her door with a loud thud and let her hands rest on her waist. Hermione breathed heavily, her skin was burning with desire, but she was still convinced she didn't want to rush into things.  
"Erm...I'd ask you in, but I believe we shouldn't jump the gun here. At least not before Sunday," Hermione admitted, blushing a little.  
"Are you implying that I had anything other than decent intentions when I asked if I could walk you home?" Ginny said, pouting playfully.  
"I'm just making sure that you know I'm a respectable woman!" Hermione played along.  
"Well, then Miss Granger. I wish you a wonderful night and sweet dreams." said Ginny bowing deeply in front of Hermione. Hermione curtsied and laughed, "Good luck for tomorrow's game and for Sunday's family dinner, Miss Weasley."

They exchanged the chastest of kisses and Hermione disappeared behind the door, grinning goofily. Still smiling she went to her room, putting away the clothes that still lay on her bed.  
She stepped out of her dress and carefully put it back on a coat hook. "What a shame," Valerie said, standing in the open door.  
"Valerie! Don't sneak up on me like that," Hermione jumped and scrambled to find her bathrobe to hide in.  
"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. I just noticed that it's really a shame that you're wearing this enticing underwear and Ginny didn't even get to see it." Valerie said in her usual flirty way.  
Hermione, feeling less naked now in her bathrobe, smirked, "You really can't help yourself, can you?" Secretly, she liked Valerie's flirtiness. It brought her out of her shell a bit and usually made her smile.  
"Get dressed and tell me everything. I want to hear a detailed minute by minute report. I'll get the wine and wait by the fireplace, " Valerie disappeared from the room.

Hermione found a pair of comfortable grey sweat pants and a blue t-shirt with an old faded university seal printed on it. She had bought it on holiday in Paris. After finishing getting dressed, she heard a blood curdling scream from the living room. She quickly grabbed wand, put it in her pocket and rushed to the living room. When she entered the room she almost bumped into Ron. He looked rushed and had an urgent expression on his face. She looked over his shoulder and saw Valerie, deeply shocked, still screaming and staring at Ron until finally focusing on Hermione.  
"What happened here? Ron? Did you floo in?" Hermione said angrily. She pushed past Ron and rushed to Valerie, hugged her tightly and rocked her to calm her down, "It's ok. Everything's fine. It's just Ron. You remember Ron, Ginny's brother?" She glinted dangerously at Ron.  
"Hermione, there is not time for that now. Lucius Malfoy is on the loose and I believe he's on his way here," Ron blurted. Instantly, Hermione was on high alert. Hermione was there when they had put away Lucius. It had been her doing that he had spent his days in Azkaban waiting for his trial to start. He probably still had enough influence to find out where she lived.  
"Hermione, we have to go!" Ron pressed and got ready to perform a memory charm on Valerie.  
"NO!" Hermione jumped between Ron and Valerie, who had stopped screaming and was now looking at the scene unfolding in front of her, understanding nothing and unable to process Ron's appearance. "No memory charms!" Hermione ordered. She turned around to Valerie and put her hands on her shoulders, "Val, I know this is hard to process and there is no time to explain anything right now. We have to leave, and fast. Do you trust me?" Hermione stared into Valerie's eyes for a sign of comprehension. Slowly, Valerie nodded.  
"Good. Do as I say and when I say it without thinking about it too much," Hermione waited for Valerie to nod again. She turned to Ron and he just said, "Grimmauld Place. It's probably safest." and with a loud crack he was gone. Valerie's eyes widened again, then she turned her head to Hermione. She pulled her to her feet, "Hold on and don't let go, no matter what."  
She turned on the spot and not a moment too soon Hermione and Valerie were gone too.

The door burst open and in walked a tall man. He looked scruffy but there was a faint memory of better times. He was unshaven and had long, blond, grimy hair and piercing grey eyes. He stormed into the living room, frantically looking for someone or something. When he didn't find what his heart desired he disapparated looking murderously angry.


	6. Ch6 Another prolonged camping trip is

A/N: And another chapter is up. Please don't get used to the frequency. I don't think I will be able to keep it up. Looking forward to your feedback in the reviews, again.  
Also it seems that e-mail alerts go out with a huge delay at the moment, just saying.

Disclaimer: Surprisingly, I still don't own any of this, except Valerie, she's mine.

**Chapter Six - Another prolonged camping trip is not an option**

Ron arrived at Grimmauld place and instantly started refreshing the defense spells of the house.  
Hermione had apparated them directly into the bathroom, being the clever witch that she was. Valerie didn't even have enough time to look where she was, she had no idea what had just happened and all she knew was that this toilet in front of her came in handy. And then she was already puking her guts out. Her stomach churned horribly and for the first time in a couple of minutes, she finally knew what to feel. Angry.

Hermione reached for Valeries hair and held it up as well as she could, "You'll feel better in a second. I'm sorry for putting you through this."  
As soon as Valerie felt it was safe to leave the immediate vicinity of the toilet, she went over to the sink and drank some water from the tap. Hermione looked at her, trying to figure out what was going on. Valerie was eerily calm and collected. But she had no time to ponder about it because Valerie turned around and started yelling, "What was that? What is happening, and how is it happening. I demand that you tell me everything. RIGHT. NOW!

Hermione sighed, this was to be expected, but she didn't really have the time to give out big explanations, she needed to find Ron.  
"Val I know you're mad at me right now, and you're confused. But again, I need you to trust me. We're still in danger. Someone I helped put in prison escaped and he's now searching for me and everyone associated with me to hurt me and get back at me. We need to get downstairs and help Ron secure the building. Please be patient for another couple of minutes and I'll tell you everything you want to know." Hermione pleaded. She didn't wait for an answer but started down the stairs, dragging Valerie behind her.  
Ron met them in the sitting room, "The place is secure for now. But I doubt that it will take Malfoy long to figure out where we are."  
"We need to get more people here to make sure we outnumber him and whoever he brings along. And we need to find a suitable hiding spot for Val." Hermione said, the cogs in her head turning at breakneck speed.

"The cloak. I know where it is!" Ron exclaimed and ran up the stairs. He was back a couple of moments later and handed it to Valerie.  
Hermione dragged Valerie into the kitchen. She opened another door and turned on the lights in a small cabinet. There was nothing but a tiny bed and very few personal items. _Whoever the people were that lived here, they treated their children horribly_, Valerie thought.  
"Val, this is an Invisibilty Cloak. I need you to wear it and stay in this room, no matter what. Do not come out unless someone gives you the code word," Hermione quickly whispered something into Valeries ear, "that means it is either Ron, Harry, Ginny or myself. No one else knows it." Hermione spoke very fast, she had a feeling time was running out. She put the cloak around a very scared Valerie and shoved her into the room. She contemplated locking the door, but any wizard would be able to open it anyway and she didn't want to trap Valerie without the means to open the door herself.

As soon as the door was closed she heard a loud crack from the sitting room and then screams. She ran, her wand drawn. In the sitting room was Ron in a full body bind on the floor. Lucius Malfoy had one foot on his chest and his wand pointed at Ron's head. He was flanked by two grim looking young men. One of them brunette, clean shaven and bowed slightly as if uncomfortable with his own height. The other one was short and muscular with hair blacker than black.  
"Expelliarmus!" Hermione thundered and Malfoy's wand flew to the corner of the room. The two Death Eaters immediately started to cast spells at Hermione but she was fast enough to cast a Protection Spell. "Stop it!" Malfoy shouted. The two Death Eaters stopped immediately. One of them ran to get Lucius his wand. "Miss Granger, if you do not wish for your friend here to die, I suggest you stop fighting." he sneered.  
"You know that the whole Ministry is looking for you. It will take only a couple of minutes until they figure out where you are and then this place will be crawling with Aurors." Hermione lectured him.  
"By then I'll be gone. All I wanted was to make sure you're still alive and know that I'm really out of Azkaban. You see, I'm not really interested in killing you. I want to make you suffer." Malfoy announced with pleasure. A muscle in his face was twitching.  
"Now, Miss Granger, I will leave. I have some business to attend to and quite frankly I need to get out of these clothes. We'll see each other soon, I trust." Malfoy said with a dangerous ring in his voice before disapparating. The Death Eaters were gone just a moment later.

Hermione ran to Ron and broke the body bind. He scrambled to his feet and groaned, "Sorry, they were too fast. And three against one."  
"It's okay. Do we know what he is plotting. Were there any clues in his behaviour in Azkaban?" Hermione asked, her eyes deeply concerned.  
"No. We only know that he wants to get back at you and that he's free. I say we check on everyone. Harry was informed by owl, but it might take a while until he gets the news. I doubt that he will read it before Sunday." Ron stated.  
"You floo to the Burrow and make sure everyone is alright. I'll owl Ginny and tell her to come here." Hermione was in complete battle mode. Ron knew that from back when they were hunting for horcruxes. Hermione had always been the one planning and constantly screwing up her head about how to go about everything the best way. He knew she knew best, so he followed her orders and stepped into the fireplace saying, "The Burrow."

Hermione found a frayed piece of parchment and an old quill and started writing.

Ginny,

please come to Grimmauld as soon as you get this. Apparate or floo but not into the kitchen.

Hermione.

Hermione found Harry's owl and sent it on its way. She went into the kitchen and knocked on the door. No sound was coming from the small room. "Valerie, it's me, Hermione. The code word is Abracadabra," Hermione took a step back and the door opened. Slowly, Valerie emerged from the cloak. She was shaking with fear and looked like a deer in headlights. Hermione rushed to her and held her tight leading her to a chair at the kitchen table. There was a faint crack in the sitting room. Valerie jumped at the sound of it, but Hermione knew all too well who produced this particular cracking sound.  
"It's okay. It's over for now. There, there." Hermione kept rocking her gently and held her tight. When she heard steps behind her she turned her head. Ginny was walking through the door. She was in her Harpies training robes, broom still in her hand.  
"What happened?" she said quietly, her face lined with worry.  
Hermione motioned for her to take a seat at the table. She let go of Valerie, who had somewhat calmed down and seemed to get angry again.

"Before you scream at me again. Now is the time to tell you everything. You can be mad at me all you want and you can yell at me as long as you like, but hear me out first." Hermione started. Valerie closed her mouth again and nodded. Ginny watched the scene unfold, not entirely sure what to make of it.  
Hermione turned to Ginny, "Malfoy escaped. He was here but he left again leaving only threats. Ron is at the Burrow. I asked you to come here to see if you are okay. I couldn't very well leave her alone to find you. I promised to explain to Valerie what just happened. Feel free to help me out at any time. You look like you're busy though." Hermione talked way too quickly.  
Ginny got up and hugged her to calm her down a bit, "Hermione, there is no practice at Midnight on Friday, I was just flying around post date, so don't panic. I have all the time in the world and I'll help you explain everything to Val."  
Hermione buried her face in Ginny's neck. She smelt salty like an ocean breeze. "Thank you," she whispered.  
Valerie's face grew angrier again. _How long was she going to have to wait for an explanation?_

"Alright. I ask you to keep an open mind and it will be easier to understand all this." Hermione swallowed and continued, "I'm a witch. So is Ginny. Harry and Ron too. Well, they're not witches but wizards. You get the idea. There is a whole subculture of witches and wizards out there. We are not evil or malicious in general, but there are some black sheep of course. The prisoner I was talking about earlier, Lucius Malfoy, is one of them. Two years ago, the second wizarding war ended with battle of Hogwarts. It was a fight of 'good against evil'. Good won. A lot of bad people were put away into a magical prison. Harry defeated the darkest wizard and leader of the so-called Death Eaters with Ron's, Ginny's and my help. A lot of other people helped too. Ron's and Ginny's family, for instance. Lucius was in the inner circle of this Dark Wizard - his name was Voldemort - and it was a big success when he was captured. I played a vital role in his being taken into pre-trial custody instead of only being confined to his manor, so he swore back then, that he would find a way to get back at me. And today he escaped this prison called Azkaban and threatened that he will make me suffer for what I did to him." Hermione stopped talking for a bit to give Val time to process what she had just said.

"I can see that you're not ugly but actually really beautiful, so that seems to be a stereotype. Do you ride brooms, wear pointy hats and dance naked around Beltain fires?"  
Hermione cautiously smiled. Even when in shock, Valerie was still her flirty self.  
"Yes. Sometimes, but hardly ever. And most definitely no," she answered the onslaught of Valerie's questions.  
"You ride brooms?" Valerie's gaze fell onto the broom Ginny had brought with her and was leaning in the corner, "Can I see?" Valerie had decided to start with details that she could grasp before trying to get to the big picture and the prisoner thing.  
"Are you sure?" Ginny asked and got up to get the broom. Valerie nodded and then looked at Hermione, "Do all of you ride brooms or just the witches?"  
"Not all of us enjoy flying. Ginny flies for a living and I wouldn't mount a broom if my life depended on it. Harry is a good flyer too." Hermione explained.  
Ginny mounted her broom and kicked off softly, just so that she hovered slightly above ground. Valeries eyes grew wider when Ginny started to zoom around in the small kitchen. She landed safely and sat down again.  
"Wow...Is that a wand?" Valerie said pointing at Hermione's hand.  
Hermione and Ginny went on to explain spells, the Wizard school system, and finally the story of Voldemort. The first rays of light came in through the kitchen window when Ginny finally got up to go home, "As much fun as this is, I have a game to play this afternoon and a practice before that. I need to get at least some sleep. Hermione, our plan still stands. I'll owl you as soon as I have talked to Harry. Good night Valerie." Ginny took her broom, turned on the spot and with a silent crack was gone.  
"We probably should catch some sleep too. I'm too tired to continue this but let me say this, I'm glad you know. It'll make a lot of things easier from now on." Hermione yawned.  
"How do we get back home? I don't even know where we are?" Valerie asked, realizing that she was in a completely unknown place.  
"Don't worry, we're still in London and we have two ways of getting home. I'll apparate us again or we'll floo. That is what Ron did when he surprised you at home. He stepped through the fireplace." Hermione's tongue was getting heavy, "I suggest the fireplace, because I'm not sure I'm awake enough for apparition."

Valerie put her arms around Hermione, who threw a bit of green powder into the fireplace and said, loud and clear, "Granger-Cox-Residence!"  
They stepped out into their living room. "That was fantastic!" Valerie chimed, "Much better than Apparition!"  
"You get used to the feeling after a while. But I agree, the floo is much more comfortable." Hermione said taking out her wand. She started mumbling Protection Spells until she was satisfied. Valerie didn't interrupt her but started putting away the wine that was still on the coffee table.  
"I'm going to bed now. We can continue our conversation tomorrow. There is a lot in this flat that you don't know about. But for now: Sweet dreams." Hermione yawned again.  
"Nighty night, and don't let the bed bugs bite." Valerie said, vanishing into her room.  
Hermione fell into bed and had just enough time to think about Ginny in her training robes all sweaty and sexy before falling asleep.


	7. Ch 7 Sunday with the Weasleys Pt 1

**A/N:** Hi, sorry for the delay. So this next chapter comes in two parts, because after I was done writing it, I realised that it was way too long for only one chapter. The second part is written but not yet fully edited. But don't worry, I'll try to get my wife to do it soon ;) In the meantime, let me know what you think of this in the reviews. It's my only way of getting feedback from you guys. Thanks.

**Disclaimer:** same as always.

**Chapter Seven - Sunday with the Weasleys**

Hermione and Valerie both woke late on Saturday. Hermione was up a little earlier and got started on breakfast, enjoying the fact that she didn't have to do everything the Muggle way anymore. Valerie came into the kitchen just as Hermione put the soft-boiled eggs on the table.

They ate their breakfast in silence, both lost in their own thoughts. Finally, Valerie found her voice, "Is everything bewitched in this flat?"

Hermione shook her head while swallowing the last bite of her toast. "No, not everything. I'll change everything back to its original state today and you can watch and ask me things as I go along. If you like." Hermione offered and started swishing her wand to make the dishes wash themselves.

Completely astounded by the spectacle in front of her Valerie decided, "From now on you do the cleaning around here! And now, show me all those hidden magical things!"

They got up and Hermione started to reverse the spells she had put on things. The Books gave up being romance novels and the photographs of Harry and the others started to move. Hermione broke the Disillusionment Charm on the old grandfather clock

„Wow, what does it do?" Valerie asked in awe. Hermione immediately shifted into teacher gear and explained, „See the hands of the clock? Each one has a name on it. There you, me and I installed one for Ginny, Harry and Ron too. There look, Ginny is now travelling. That means she is flooing or apparating somewhere. See, she's at the stadium now. The Weasleys have a clock just like this."

Hermione went to get an ordinary broom from the closet and transfigured it into a perch for her owl, „He'll be so glad to have a place to stay inside", she said. She then went to get his cage that was hidden in her room and placed it next to the perch on top of Hermione's old trunk in the living room. She carefully explained to Val how owling worked and then called for her owl. "Valerie meet Tyton. He's a Barn Owl"

"Hi Tyton. Do you bite?" Valerie asked the owl, who in turn cocked his head and hooted indignantly.

It was almost four in the afternoon when another owl swooped in from the kitchen. "Hi owl," Valerie said good naturedly, "Do you have a letter for us?" But when Valerie tried to snatch the letter from its beak the owl hopped away from. Valerie got up and tried to bribe the owl with a treat but that didn't work either. When Hermione came back from the bathroom she couldn't help laughing at the sight in front of her. The owl was hopping backwards on the ground and Valerie waddling after it with a treat in her hand. They seemed to move around the sofa in circles. "He won't give you the letter if it's not for you," Hermione finally interrupted their awkward dance. She lifted her arm and the owl flew the distance and landed gracefully. Hermione took the letter and brought the owl over to Valerie who finally was able to give away her treat. And with a pleased hoot the owl was gone again. Hermione immediately recognised the penmanship and opened the letter with a sigh, already suspecting what it would say.

Dear Hermione,

We haven't seen you at Sunday dinners in a while and since I have always considered you part of this family I wanted to invite you to join us this Sunday. No excuses!

Ron told us everything about that foul man, Malfoy. Rest assured, we're safe. All our protective spells are still in place.

Ron also told me that you filled in your flat mate about who you really are. Depending on how well she took it, I would like to extend my invitation to her. Please, just let me know if you will come alone or with company so I can prepare enough food. I really don't want anyone go hungry.

Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow.

Love,

Molly

PS: I'm sorry, if the owl already took off without your answer. He's not good with following orders.

"Who's Molly again?" Valerie asked. She had read the letter after Hermione had given it to her.  
"Molly is Ginny's Mum. Remember the stories? Well, actually those stories weren't exactly true. Molly is warm, caring and always ready to help. She sort of became like a surrogate Mum to me during the summers I spent at their house. They call it the Burrow. I just fed you the stories of how awful Molly is, so that you wouldn't feel left out of something great when I went to those dinners. Weasley family dinners are a bit overwhelming but once you get used to the banter, you'll love it. Do you want to come with me?"

"Hm, she said 'No Excuses'. So I think I'll better give it a try." answered Valerie.  
"Alright, then. Let's write her back." Hermione got a piece of parchment and a quill from a drawer underneath Tyton's perch and handed it to Valerie, "You do the honours".  
"Wow, it's really hard to write with something like that!" But once she'd gotten the hang of it it seemed simple enough. When Val was done, she put the letter in an envelope and handed it to Tyton, who took it but didn't make any effort to take off.

"You have to either tell him where to go, if he knows the location, or you need to write a name on the envelope." Hermione explained.

"Please take the letter to Molly Weasley, Tyton." Valerie said politely, and off he flew.

Hermione and Valerie spent the rest of the day talking about Quidditch, Hogwarts and Diagon Alley until they were too tired to continue.

They rose late on Sunday and had only very little for breakfast. "Best to be very hungry for Molly's dinner," Hermione had said, "She'll make you eat third and fourth helpings, especially when you're new," she added.

"What do you think this Malfoy character is up to?" Valerie brought up the touchy subject.

"Nothing good, that's for sure. So until we get him back where he belongs, you should definitely not be alone, without one of us around. I know that might spoil your usual evening plans a bit but I really don't want to risk Lucius getting to you," said Hermione furrowing her brow.

"WHAT? NO, definitely, NO! I can't go out and erm...meet people? You realise that you will have to put up with a very cranky me?" Valerie was obviously not very fond of the idea.

"Look, if you get cranky enough, we might let you go out alone for Lucius to find you. Your cranky self might just finish him off. But until then, no going anywhere without a magical babysitter. Sorry." Hermione defended her plan. She was afraid that Lucius might go for the easy way, capturing the one defenseless Muggle that Hermione cared about except her parents. She knew they were safe, still living in Australia and oblivious to the fact they ever had a daughter. Tears welled up in her eyes. She had not seen them in two years and it would probably be another two until all the Death Eaters were convicted of their crimes, and only then would it be safe to break the memory charm. A single tear dropped down her face.

"Hermione, what's up?" Valerie said softly, taking her hand and squeezing it.

Hermione shook her head, wiped away the tears and took a deep breath, "I just thought about my parents, is all."

"What about them? Lucius can't get to them, now can he?" Valerie said, still thinking they were dead.

"They live in Australia. They are safe. They are safe. They are safe." Hermione repeated her mantra to convince herself. She knew that it was true, they _were_ safe, but she still worried about them.

"I...erm...but you said...oh, Hermione, all that time you had to pretend they were dead while they weren't?" Valerie hugged her flat mate as tightly as she could without squashing her.

"When the war started I placed a memory charm on them, ridding them of all memories of me . They are Muggles and I needed to protect them. They live in Australia now, under a different name. I swore to myself only to break the charm once all the Death Eaters are behind bars," Hermione explained already feeling much more collected.

Valerie hugged her some more until she was sure her friend was feeling better.

"We probably should get going. It's such a beautiful day and we could use a little time in the countryside." Hermione said, getting up.

"Do you think I can bring a camera?" Valerie asked, ever the photographer.

"I'm sure they won't mind. Just tell them it's what you do for a living and that you're not a journalist," Hermione answered.

A couple of minutes later they were standing in front of the fireplace. Valerie looked a little pale but reassured Hermione she was ok. Hermione picked up some floo powder and together they stepped into the fireplace. "The Burrow!" Hermione shouted.

They hadn't even properly stepped out of the fireplace and already Molly had hugged Hermione as tightly as she could, "Oh, I thought you were mad at us, always making up excuses for not coming!" When Molly was done hugging Hermione, she went right ahead and pulled Valerie into a hug, much shorter though since she didn't want to overwhelm the girl. "You must be Hermione's flat mate," she said, happy to have another eating guest.

"Valerie Cox. So nice to meet you, Mrs. Weasley." Valerie said feeling right at home. When Molly's eyes found Valerie's camera, she eyed it suspiciously.

Valerie followed her gaze and quickly explained as Hermione had told her, "I'm a photographer by trade and Hermione couldn't stop gushing about how beautiful the surrounding fields and forests are. I hope it's okay if I snap some pictures of the landscape and maybe one or two of your family. I'd be happy to make copies for you if you want."

"Oh, of course, dear. Go right ahead and take as many pictures as you like," Molly answered, "Hermione? Can I talk to you for a second?" Molly added, her voice hushed.

"Of course, Molly. Val, can you give us a second, you can either go outside and meet the rest of the Weasleys or wait for me in the sitting room over there," Hermione explained.

Valerie opted for fresh air and stepped out of the kitchen.

"What's on your mind, Molly?" Hermione asked as soon as Valerie was out of earshot.

"I don't have much time, Harry will be here soon, and I know you and Ginny are not as close as you once were, but I was hoping you could tell me why my daughter sneaked into her old room just after sunrise on Saturday and then again tonight, just after Arthur and I had gone to bed?" Molly's voice was heavy with concern and Hermione decided on playing the estranged-friend-card. It was not her place to tell Mrs. Weasley about Ginny and Harry breaking up bacause of her.

"To be quite honest, I have no idea. As you said, we have grown apart a bit and I didn't know Ginny hadn't slept at Grimmauld Place," Hermione tried to sound as convincing as possible, but she could tell Molly didn't believe a word she said. Harry, of all people, came to her rescue by stepping out of the fireplace. Molly ran over to hug him hello. Hermione quickly to the garden before Harry even knew she was there.

She found Ginny, Ron, George, Percy, Arthur and Valerie sitting around a table in the garden. Arthur was smitten by their Muggle visitor and asked her question after question about photography. Valerie didn't seem to mind it too much, after all it was not only her job but her passion too. She drew the line though when Arthur suggested opening up the camera to see how it worked inside.

"Hello everyone," Hermione said and waved at all of them. One by one they hugged her hello, even Percy. Ginny was last and after a very short but very awkward moment they briefly hugged. Hermione tensed up,every nerve ending in her body standing on edge and screamimg for more physical contact. They forced their bodies apart, not noticing George's probing look. Something was up, he hadn't seen them hug in forever. They were supposed to avoid each other. The cogs in his head started to turn, but his thoughts were interrupted by Harry coming out of the house.

Harry greeted everyone but stopped short when he realised Hermione was present. "Don't worry," said Hermione, when she realised Harry looked somewhat scared, „I'll be civil and won't chew your head off. Molly invited me and wouldn't take no for an answer. Val is here too but she's busy explaining Muggles to Arthur." Hermione explained. Harry said in a very serious tone, "There was a lot of truth in your words. I deserved them. Don't worry, I have a plan to make up for everything." _Oh no!_

He then went to greet his soon to be ex-girlfriend and planted a big kiss on her lips. Hermione's insides cringed. Surprised by her own reaction, she thought, _I didn't know I'm the jealous type. I never was before, but take your hands off my girlfriend!_

Harry beamed as if he had won the House Cup all over again and wouldn't leave Ginny out of his eyes for even a second. Hermione tried to establish eye contact with Ginny to soothe her growing feelings of jealousy, but she couldn't get her to look back.

Shortly, Molly served dinner and everyone dug in. The conversation was merry and easygoing and only got serious for a while when they talked about Lucius Malfoy. But in the end they decided not to let it spoil their dinner and went back to happier thoughts.

After dinner Harry got up from his seat and softly tapped a spoon against his glass. Everyone went silent and looked at him curiously.

"I have a little announcement to make, yes, another one. Even though no one ever talks about it, I know everyone knows that Ginny and I have hit a rough patch a while ago." Hermione started to squirm in her seat, she had a feeling where this might be going and she didn't like it. At all. She looked at Ginny who still seemed utterly clueless.

"Ginny, a lot of what went wrong was my fault. I didn't treat you the way you deserved to be treated, and you know from my letter that I intend to make up for my mistakes. I love you with all of my heart and being away from you for a week made me realise one thing: I don't ever want to lose you," Harry continued. Hermione was raging inside. She knew he was clueless, but what was he doing? Ginny's eyes were wide with what everybody thought was happy anticipation, but Hermione knew it to be sheer panic. She wanted to help her somehow but didn't know how to. Then she watched Harry get down on one knee in front of the woman she loved. _Oh Gods, please don't!_

"Ginevra Molly Weasley, will you do me the honour and marry me?" Harry said and saw tears in Ginny's eyes. He assumed they were happy tears and patiently waited for her to say yes.

Ginny's mouth opened and closed again without a word coming out. Her mouth was as dry as the desert. She looked down at the beautiful diamond ring Harry was presenting her with, tried to fight back the tears, but failed miserably. Her heart cried out for Hermione to hold her and help her through this but she knew she had to do this alone now.

"I'm sorry, Harry, " Ginny started and swallowed hard, tears in her eyes. She still cared for Harry and really didn't want to hurt him, but her heart hadn't been in this relationship, how could it be in a marriage, "I can't. I'm sorry," she stammered. When she couldn't bear it anymore she got up and fled to her room.

Everyone was silent. A shell shocked Harry still had his knee on the floor and the ring in his hand. George found his voice first, "Maybe someone should go up and make sure she's okay?" he said, looking straight at Hermione. Molly deemed this to be a good idea and nodded, "You should go. You two are best friends after all."

Hermione got up without saying anything, ignoring Valerie's "don't-do-anything-stupid"-look, and left the table. She went up the stairs and stopped in front of Ginny's door. She knocked before entering to let Ginny know someone was here. She found her lying on her bed, sobbing into her pillow. It was heartbreaking. She knew Ginny was not one to cry, and seeing this strong and independent woman break down was too much for her. Hermione closed the door and went over to the bed and sat down. She held Ginny and the pillow she clung to close to her until the sobs died down a bit. Hermione gently stroked the the redhead's hair and told her that everything would be alright. When she had calmed down enough, Ginny lifted her head and looked at the woman holding her. _Dammit, she had cried for minutes on end, and still she looked beautiful._ Hermione scolded herself and focused back on consoling Ginny. "It will be fine. Everything is going to be just fine," she promised again and again.

"Thank you," Ginny whispered, still holding eye contact. It was as if looking into Hermione's eyes made all the world around her disappear and gave her hope that everything would indeed be completely fine. Hermione lovingly stroked her cheek and Ginny closed her eyes to fully take in the feel of Hermione's soft hands. Hermione bowed down and gave Ginny a soft kiss on the lips. It was then that Hermione saw something move in the corner of her eye.

A/N: So this was part one. Let me know what you think and maybe how you would like the story to continue...


	8. Ch 8 Sunday with the Weasleys Pt2

A/N: It took a bit longer than I thought, but here it is now. Part two of the fateful Sunday dinner at the Burrow. I hope it will have been worth the wait. Please let me know what you think in the reviews. I enjoy reading them immensely. Thanks to everyone who wrote reviews so far, I really appreciate it.

Now, where did we stop last time? We left with Hermione running after Ginny to comfort her after Harry's proposal. They kissed and Hermione glimpsed someone in the corner of her eye...

Disclaimer: same as always...

**Chapter Eight – Sunday with the Weasleys Pt2**

Hermione looked up and saw Harry standing in the door, eyes narrowed and face angrier than she had ever seen him before.

"What is going on here?" he whispered hoarsley.

Ginny swirled around and sat up as if she had been lying on hot coals, "Harry." she stated, her voice strained from crying.

"What the hell is going on here?", Harry repeated and glinted furiously at Hermione, never even looking at Ginny.

"Harry, before you..." Hermione started but was cut off by Harry, "Silencio!" he bellowed.

"I don't want to hear cheap excuses from you. Ginny is mine. She is with me and me only, and maybe I picked the wrong time to propose and it upset her, but she is not free for the taking, especially not for you. You are supposed to be my best friend!" Harry had talked himself into a rage and began to close the distance between the two women still sitting on the bed and himself. The door was wide open and everyone else downstairs at the dinner table could hear what was going on up there. They all sat in silence, staring at their fingers or plates in embarrassment, but neither was ready to stop listening. They all wanted to know what was going on.

Ginny jumped up from the bed and stepped protectively between Harry and the still muted Hermione, "Stay away from her Harry, she has nothing to do with this."

Harry clenched his fists, one of them around his wand. "I believe this has everything to with her. I'm not stupid, you know," Harry yelled.

"For someone not stupid you sure are very thick. And for the record, I'm not yours. I'm not something you possess. And if I ever was yours, you lost me a long time ago," Ginny said, surprised her temper was still mostly in check.

"But I...I love you and you love me and I will make up for my mistakes," Harry said, his anger gone and his face now screwed up in pain.

"Harry, I do love you. I care very much about you. But I'm not in love with you, not anymore. We don't work in a relationship. We were friends and so we thought we would work, but we didn't, and it's time that we recognise that we just don't go together as a couple," Ginny explained. She was tearing up again. She hated hurting him, but this had to be done. She could not think of any other way to get through this.

"But what do you want with her? She's a woman? She can never give you what I can give you!" Harry said, biting back like a wounded animal. Hermione got up and started at Harry, eyes glinting. She couldn't speak but that didn't mean she wouldn't defend herself. But Ginny was quick to hold her back, "No, Hermione. Please let me do this. Harry, I know you are hurt and your ego is a bit ruffled now, but this doesn't have to play out this way," Ginny was still wondering why she out of all people was the voice of reason in this room and then she saw Harry lose the last bit of restraint he had possessed. She had never seen him like that and would never have thought he was even capable of being so hot headed. But it seemed this was not the day anyone behaved like their usual selves anyway.

"How long has this been going on? How long have you two been shagging behind my back, making a fool of me? Was it good at least?" he yelled at the top of his lungs.

And with that Ginny's unusually strong level-headedness had crumbled to pieces too, she had had enough. She knew she had had hurt Harry deeply, but there was a line and he had clearly stepped over it. Now it was her turn to let loose and pour salt into wounds, "You're an ass, Harry. So what if I screw her behind your back. What if she's so much better than you? You're such an idiot, Harry. This was never about sex. I would have left you way earlier if this had been about sex. I love her. Get that into that thick head of yours!" Ginny shot back. She clearly aimed to kill.

Harry gasped and so did everyone else downstairs. They heard a loud snapping sound and then nothing but silence.

"Okay, this is enough," Valerie snapped out of it first. She got up and almost flew up the stairs to prevent anything from happening.

She rushed into the room and found Ginny burying her face in Hermione's embrace, blood soaking her t-shirt. Harry was staring madly at the two women, still clenching his fingers to a fist. Hermione was livid, looking daggers at Harry. _What had gotten into him?_ Valerie quickly overpowered Harry from behind, twisting his arm onto his back. He bent over and groaned in pain. Valerie frog marched him out of the room and into the next room she could find, which happened to be Ron's. She shoved him onto one of the beds and said, "Sit down, cool off and come out of this room when you are ready to apologise," She walked out and slammed the door shut. When she entered Ginny's room again, she saw the full damage Harry had done. Ginny's nose was clearly broken , still bleeding heavily. Both women's tops were soaked in blood and Ginny was desperately trying to prevent herself from whimpering in pain. Hermione was gesturing to Valerie that she couldn't speak.

George appeared in the door way and saw his little sister hurt and Valerie a bit helpless. "Where is he? I'm going to kill him!" he growled.

"You'll do nothing of the sorts. Can you make Hermione talk again?" Valerie asked.

George took out his wand and murmured something.

"Thank you," Hermione sighed in relief. She took Ginny by the shoulders and pushed her away just enough to see the damage Harry's fist had caused to the redheads nose. It looked grim. "Go get Molly, I believe she has more experience with broken bones than I do," Hermione ordered and Valerie started down the stairs.

When Molly looked at her daughter it was all she could do not to walk straight into the other room and strangle the man she usually thought so highly of. _What had gotten into the boy?_

She came closer and examined Ginny's nose, "Darling, this is going to hurt quite a bit, but I can set the bone myself. No need to go to St. Mungo's. Are you ready?"

Ginny nodded, feeling Hermione's hand slip into hers, ready to be squeezed.

"Episkey!" Molly whispered carefully and Ginny screamed in agony. The bone snapped back into its place, the bleeding stopping almost instantly. Ginny carefully touched her nose and smiled weakly, "Thanks Mum."

"Now go get cleaned up while I go deal with Harry," Molly said, a grim look on her face.

Molly stepped into Ron's room and found Harry sitting on the bed, head in his hands. He was rubbing his temples

"Harry James Potter!" Molly thundered, "Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

Harry looked up and realised there was nothing that he could say. Getting angry was one thing, hitting below the belt with his remarks might have been forgiveable, but slamming his fist into Ginny's face was not. There was no excuse for what he had done and he knew better than to defend himself to Molly Weasley.

"I'm sorry..." he began meekly.

"Save your breath. You don't have to apologize to me, apologize to the girls. Do you even know what you've done?" Molly threw her hands up to underline her exasperation.

"Will she be alright? Could you mend the nose?" Harry cautiously enquired.

"Yes, the nose is fine. It'll hurt for a bit, but the nose really isn't the issue here," Molly had calmed down a bit, seeing the guilt in Harry's eyes.

"I didn't mean to do it, you know? I just got so angry. I love Ginny. I don't know what to do without her and now I've ruined everything. I'll never be able to get her back after this." Harry buried his head in his hands again to hide his tears from Molly.

Molly sat down next to him on the bed and softly stroked his back like she would with any one of her own children, "Harry, let me be honest here. The way I see it, you've lost her a while ago and your recent actions didn't help getting her back. I don't really know what's going on there, but she seems to be in love with someone else and she doesn't have any more control over it than you do," Molly held a sobbing Harry as tightly as she could. To her he was like a son after all and she didn't like to see any of her children in pain.

"I-I know I-I shou-ld let...let her g-go and b-be happy, b-but it h-hurt-s so mu-much," Harry managed to get out between sobs.

Molly simply hugged him even more tightly and held on until his breathing had calmed down a bit.

"Why Hermione?" Harry managed to get out after a while, "She's my best friend. How could she do that to me?" Harry was at a loss. His world had broken down into little pieces and he had no idea how to put the puzzle back together. His expression matched that of a little child who has lost his mum in a gigantic supermarket.

"From what I can tell, Hermione seems to be in love as well. I'm sure they weren't out to hurt you. Maybe they just didn't know how to tell you." Molly tried, "but really, my guess is as good as yours."

"I feel so stupid. I don't even know how long it's been going on. I mean, it could be months. At least that's how long we've been having troubles," Harry felt his anger rise again.

"Harry, I don't know any more than you do," Molly was interrupted by Valerie entering the room.

"Two years," she said and when she saw Harry's and Molly's eyes grow wide she quickly added, "No, no. They haven't been screwing around behind your back for two years, that was an unlucky choice of words. But Hermione has been in love with Ginny for almost two years now. She never acted on it and it ate away at her. It killed her inside to know that Ginny was with you and that she could never be with her. She tried to get over it and move on, but she couldn't and that's why she started to withdraw from their friendship. She didn't want to hurt anyone. Ginny realised her feelings for Hermione at her birthday last year but didn't act on them for the same reasons. They were both hurting for such a long time and last Monday when everything blew up they just couldn't bear it anymore. As far as I know there was a kiss or two then but nothing else happened. They didn't even see each other until Friday. They went out for dinner and there were a couple of kisses but that's it, Harry. Ginny wanted to tell you on that Monday when you were over for dinner but you were gone when she got home and only found your letter. Hermione told me that Ginny had planned to talk to you today but I guess you know how the rest of the story goes." Valerie didn't really think it was her place to share that story but she wanted to prevent any more knee-jerk reactions and felt it was best to opt for full disclosure.

"Two years..." Molly mumbled.

"Why did Hermione never say anything? I mean, we're best friends she's supposed to come to me when she needs a friend," Harry's head spun.

"Yes, that would've worked really well," Valerie said sarcastically, "Harry, I'm in love with your girlfriend. You don't mind. Do you?...Very smooth."

"What do I do now?" Harry said, looking back and forth between the two women.

"Apologize," Molly said softly. Valerie nodded in agreement.

"Yes, that's the easy part. I am in fact sorry. But how do I walk away? How do I just let her go? I'm not prepared to do that," Harry was tearing up again.

Valerie squatted down in front of the broken mess that was Harry and said, "Go and apologise and then, if you can, try to catch a glimpse of Ginny's eyes when she looks at Hermione. It will hurt like hell but you'll see how happy she is with her and that should help you. She is in good hands at least. If all else fails you can always be happy it's Hermione and not a random dickhead she's leaving you for."

Harry nodded. He'd try. He wiped away a couple of tears and got up to find Ginny.

As soon as Harry had left the room, Molly sighed deeply, "Thanks for clearing up the whole thing a little, Valerie."

"I feel a bit bad about sharing a story that really isn't mine to tell, but I don't think it would have done anyone any good if I hadn't explained it," Valerie looked at Molly and saw something in her face she couldn't quite place, "Are you okay?" she asked.

Molly looked up, "Yes, I'm fine. It's just all very surprising, and so much is happening so fast. I think I just need time to process."

"It's difficult, you know. Coming out to your parents," Valerie had a faint idea what it was that Molly had to process.

"She knows I'll love her no matter what. Or at least I thought she did," Molly was grateful that Valerie caught on so quickly.

"I'm sure Ginny was just insecure. She was in a relationship with her best friend's best friend, while secretly loving her best friend, not wanting to risk any of the friendships involved. It gets to you. She knows you love her, I'm sure of that. But she also knows that you love Harry and I guess she didn't want to make it any harder for you. It's easy to get lost in your own thoughts and feelings and you feel alone and it doesn't occur to you that you don't have to go through all that on your own."

"You seem to understand all this very well..." Molly stated, thankful to have someone to talk to.

"I'm good with people, is all," Valerie dodged the implied question, "Take your time to process, and by all means, rather bite your tongue off before you say something discouraging. Not that I think you disapprove of them being together or anything. But if you do, keep it to yourself when they are around," Valerie added, a hint of bitterness in her voice.

"Sore point?" Molly asked. She was a mother after all and prided herself in knowing what was going on with the people around her.

"Yeah, sort of. But that's a story for another day," Valerie added before getting up, "now if you'll excuse me, I will go and check how this soap opera went on." And with that Valerie left Molly alone in Ron's room wondering what on earth a soap opera was.

Harry found Ginny and Hermione sitting under a tree in the Weasley's back yard. As he came closer he could see the happiness on Ginny's face that Valerie had been talking about. Her eyes all but sparkled with love for the brunette. He could also feel the pain Valerie had promised. He imagined an invisible hand tearing out his heart through his chest. He approached the women nonetheless, carefully stepping on a twig to give them a warning someone was near. He watched them turn their heads in his direction and the pained look return to Ginny's face. He couldn't read Hermione's face but he hardly ever could, he had gotten used to that.

Harry stopped and sat down in the grass opposite them, "I came to apologize. I know there isn't really an excuse for my actions, but I wanted you to know that I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hit you and I didn't mean to hurt you with what I said. Hell, I didn't even mean to treat you the way I've done for months now," Harry stopped talking, swallowing hard. There was a knot in his throat that wouldn't go away, trying to keep him from talking. He tried anyway, "I love you Ginny, and it will take me a while to get over you and move on, but I understand that you two are in love and have been for a while now. It's nobody's fault, it just is. I have to be honest, I'm not there yet, I can't tell you I'm happy for you two, but what I can say is that I want you to be happy and that I wish you all the best," Harry ended his little speech and got back on his feet. Ginny reached forward and quickly took his hand, "Thank you, Harry. You still mean a lot to me. I'll be there when you are ready to be friends again." With that Ginny let go of Harry's hand and both women watched him turn and walk away.

"What do we do now?" Ginny asked.

"I think we should probably get inside and see how your family is holding up. They probably have questions or will at least want to know you're alright," Hermione said, ever the practical one.

They got to their feet and made their way across the yard.

When they walked into the kitchen Harry and Ron had already left. George, Percy, Molly and Arthur were sitting and talking, each nursing a glass of firewhiskey.

"Where is Val?" Hermione asked.

"She went outside to take pictures." George answered.

"Alone?" Hermione's voice sounded alarmed.

"Erm...yes.." Percy answered confused.

"No..." Hermione turned on her heel and ran outside again looking for her flat mate. '_I told her not to wander off alone. I told her about Lucius. Dammit, Val, why don't you ever listen to me?_' Hermione's thoughts raced, "Val, where are you?", she screamed.

The Weasleys came running out of the kitchen behind Hermione. With all of the day's events they had completely forgotten about Lucius Malfoy's threat. Ginny and George rushed to the broom shed to canvas the area from above. Molly and Arthur went one way on the ground and Percy caught up with Hermione, who had already started walking into the other direction.

Ginny saw something flash in the distance and pointed it out to George, "I think I saw someone casting something over there!" They both sped towards the flashes of white, wands at the ready. When they came nearer they could make out a slender woman's figure that quickly turned out to be Valerie. Another flash of white. 'Where was the attacker?' Ginny asked her brother as they sped on. They practically jumped off their broomsticks, ready to strike. Valerie almost jumped out of her skin, when Ginny and George landed next to her. "What the hell?" she cursed.

"Where is he?" Ginny said, slightly out of breath while turning around to make out the threat.

"Where is who?" Valerie was confused.

"We saw someone casting something here. We thought maybe Lucius..." George started but was cut off.

"There is no one here. What is going on?" Valerie was still confused.

"But we saw flashes, white flashes that looked like someone was casting some spells around here," George explained.

Valerie started to laugh. She doubled over and fell to her knees. She had to laugh even harder when she saw the confused faces of the two Weasleys in front of her. They were sure she had lost her mind. Valerie tried to calm down. She took her camera and held it right in front of their faces before pressing the trigger. A white flash lit up the air and the camera clicked.

Ginny and George looked at each other, or at least tried to, they had white dots dancing in front of their eyes. "I'm sorry I scared you guys, but I'm fine. Just taking pictures - with a flash," Valerie explained.

"We probably should get back and tell the others," Ginny said, embarrassed about her mistake.

"Erm...do you think I could maybe ride a broom with one of you? Do two people fit on it?" Valerie asked, unusually shy.

"Sure, hop on!" George smiled, he still couldn't believe they were dumb enough to confuse a photo flash with spell casting.

Valerie climbed onto George's broom sitting in front of him and holding on as tight as she could. George kicked off and soared into the air. Ginny followed suit.

Valerie squealed with joy. This was so much better than a roller coaster or a plane ride. It was like riding a motorbike, free and fast and daring. She enjoyed every second of it.

They saw Hermione and Percy in a field, wands alight since it had gotten dark by now. They both descended and Ginny called down to them, "Hermione, Percy, we found her! You can go back to the Burrow!" Hermione and Percy looked up and saw the three of them up in the air. Valerie was waving happily to Hermione.

'_Oh no, not another one who likes to fly those damned broom sticks' _Hermione thought to herself. She took a deep breath and called up, "Thank you! I'll send my Patronus to Molly and Arthur. We'll meet up at the Burrow. Expecto Patronum!"  
Valerie saw a silvery blue otter shoot from Hermione's wand and speed off into the distance, "Wow, what was that?" she asked George, who then proceeded to explain the concept of a Patronus while flying them back to the Burrow.

Percy and Hermione apparated back into the kitchen, meeting Molly and Arthur who arrived a few seconds after them. Relieved, they all fell into the soft chairs in the sitting room. Two minutes later George and Valerie emerged with Ginny in tow.

"I told you not to wander off alone!" Hermione tried to be angry with her flat mate but was mostly just relieved to see her alive and well.

"I know. I'm sorry. I got carried away. I didn't mean to scare anyone," Valerie apologized, gazing at her feet.

"I need some more firewhiskey!" George stated and got up to get glasses and the bottle from the kitchen.

Valerie sat down on the comfortable sofa next to Hermione. Ginny was on Hermione's other side, her head on Hermione's shoulder and they were holding hands. Arthur, Molly, Percy and George sat on various armchairs, everyone nipping on their firewhiskey.

"I just wanted to say," Molly started, "even though there was a bit of drama involved and not everything went as you two probably planned it, I'm glad to see my daughter so happy and I'm happy to see Hermione so happy, too. You're like family to me, I hope you know that."

Valerie knew that Molly had obviously processed the initial shock of her daughter loving another woman. She smiled and inconspicuously raised her camera and took snapshots, recording the moment for later. Hermione and Ginny felt on top of the world. They were exhausted by the days' events but they were happy they could finally move on with their relationship. Ginny raised her head and looked into Hermione's caramel coloured eyes. She got lost in those eyes, those were the eyes of the woman she had waited a year to be with, the eyes she could sink into and make the world around her drift away, the eyes that promised love and happiness. For a moment there, Ginny felt alright again.

They all finished their firewhiskey and fell back into easy conversation, glad that the day was ending and with it all the drama.

At around midnight Hermione got up and announced that she was getting tired and that she and Valerie should probably be going.

"Of course, you probably have an early day tomorrow," Arthur said, hugging both Hermione and Valerie good bye before leaving the room. Percy politely said his good byes and stepped into the fireplace to floo home. George hugged his parents and went over to Hermione and Ginny pulling them both into a big group hug whispering into Hermione's ear, "Take good care of her, will you?"

They broke the hug and Hermione put her arm around Ginny's waist and pulled her close as George stepped into the fireplace.

"You will stay here?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, I think I'll stay the night, and get my things from Grimmauld tomorrow and then move into team quarters for as long as I can stand it," Ginny smiled.

"When will I see you again?" Hermione asked, playing for time. She liked having Ginny around and wasn't quite ready to leave yet.

"Hmm. We have a pretty tough game on Thursday, so the coach will not be happy to see me travelling back and forth this week. How about dinner on Friday?" Ginny suggested.

'_Again? You keep me waiting for a week again?' _Hermione thought. But she knew it wasn't by choice.

"Alright. I'll miss you terribly and I'll probably owl you non-stop." Hermione tucked an errand strand of hair behind Ginny's ear and softly touched her cheek. Ginny leaned in for a kiss. Soft at first, then more demanding. Hermione's fingers travelled from Ginny's hair to her waist and pulled her closer. Ginny let her hands travel, sending shivers down Hermione's spine. They were lost in each other, nothing else existed.  
"Ahem..." Valerie cleared her throat, "There are still people in the room, you know."

The two witches ignored their friend for a second longer and then broke the kiss.

"I'll see you on Friday," Ginny said.

"Good luck for the game and try to be careful, yes?" Hermione said before stepping into the green fire with Valerie holding on to her,"Granger-Cox-Residence!"

A/N: So this was it. I'll try to have the next chapter up soon. I promise to further the actual story a bit next time. Let me know what you think in the reviews!


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: It's been quite a while since I posted a new chapter to this story. I had completely forgotten that I still hadn't finished it until I rummaged around my computer and found a ready and waiting to be posted chapter just sitting there collecting dust. I found a couple more, actually but they still need a bit more editing. I'm quite in the mood to write, so I hope I'll be posting a few more chapters soon. Sorry it took so long, there is really no excuse.**

**Chapter Nine**

It was the week of the first trials. Hermione's days at work were split between her office and the court room. They were frying minor fish and the trials were a pretty easy and fast affair.

"At this rate we'll be through with all of them by the end of the month. I assumed you had prepared everything well, but I had no idea how much effort you had put into these trials, Hermione." Kingsley Shacklebolt was impressed with his assistant.  
"Thank you, Minister." Hermione answered and blushed a little. She wasn't very good with compliments. To her it was completely normal to have every detail planned.  
"Please, how many times to I have to tell you to call me by my name?" Shacklebolt pretended to be offended by Hermione's use of his title.  
"Sorry, I keep forgetting that. If you'll excuse me, there is still a lot to be done for tomorrow's trials." Hermione slipped back into her office and set to work. She knew the better she prepared everything the faster the trials would go. And the faster everything went, the faster all of them would be put away or receive a Dementor's Kiss. She really didn't wish that on anybody, but she also saw that some people were able to escape Azkaban and the world would be safer without them.

Wednesday morning, Hermione walked into her office and found a letter stuck to her desk with a knife. She felt a cold shiver running down her spine and examined the dagger more closely. It was silver and elegant and had it not been stuck into her desk she would have thought it looked beautiful. She performed a few spells to test if there was any poison on it before removing the knife from the letter and the desk.  
She almost couldn't open the envelope, her hands trembled too much. She finally managed and read the letter.

_Hermione,_

_I'm sorry to ruin your desk, but I feel I'm being watched and I'd rather not risk being uncovered as a rat. I might have some information on the whereabouts of a certain family member of mine._  
_Come to room 15 in the Leaky Cauldron tonight at 7 and meet me there. The door will open with the secret password, which is the name of the title character in your favourite Muggle book._

_Be there,_  
_DLM_

_PS: This is supposed to be a threat from my father, stating that he is out to get to you._

Hermione decided not to tell anyone about the letter. It briefly crossed her mind that it might be a trap but she shoved the thought away and decided to believe it really was Draco and that it really was his intention of helping her. After all he had switched sides by the end of the war. Where did he know her favourite book from though?

When it was almost 7 she flooed to the Leaky Cauldron and sneaked up the stairs to where the rooms where. She looked around but saw no one following her. When she found door number 15 she whispered, "Alice" and the door swung open.  
The room was dimly lit and the door closed and locked automatically behind her. There was a bed and bedside tables, a small dresser and a small wooden desk with a chair. The heavy brocade curtains were drawn and the only light was coming from the desk lamp.  
"Thank you for coming," she heard a familiar voice say. She turned her head and saw Draco.  
"I was curious." Hermione answered.  
"We don't have much time. Father thinks I'm out to buy something at Borgin & Burkes." Draco explained the situation.  
"He doesn't know you switched sides?" Hermione was surprised.  
"I fed him a story about being a snitch for the dark side. He was eager enough to believe it. But that is not why we're here. Father is hiding in one of his cousins houses in Chatham. He has already gained some influence again. There are about five people who are eager to prove to him that they are worthy Death Eaters." Draco looked nervous and talked unusually fast.  
"So he's recruiting and re-building his forces. How do we get to him?" Hermione asked.  
Draco shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know. He doesn't tell me a lot, said I need to prove myself first. I know he's in Chatham and about the new recruits but nothing else. I don't even know about his plans."  
"Can you keep me up to date?" Hermione's thoughts were spinning, plans were unfolding.  
"I can try but I'm not sure how long it will take until I know more." Draco got even more nervous and started to look around the small room as if he expected someone to jump out from behind the curtain to tackle him.  
"Thank you Draco. I appreciate your help. It will help you in your trial."  
"Don't remind me of that. I've got to go now." Draco said and with a crack he was gone.  
Hermione did the same, apparating into her room, mostly because Valerie still wasn't used to people popping in and out around her.  
"Valerie, George, I'm home!" Hermione shouted while walking to the kitchen. She found them playing Scrabble on the kitchen table, "Who's winning?" Hermione asked amused by the words on the board.  
"George is." Valerie said frustrated. Hermione went over to have a look and an amused smile crept over her face, "What is a Ylorgus?" she said and looked at George.  
"I'm surprised you don't know, Hermione. Head in your books all the time and then you have never heard of the famous Ylorgus? You should read the Quibbler more often!" George winked.  
Hermione decided to let him have a little fun. Valerie would find out soon enough what a prankster George was.  
"Thanks for babysitting, George. I have a feeling it won't be for much longer." Hermione hinted.  
"Why's that?" Geroge was getting curious.  
"I got a hint today. I might know where Lucius hides. I just have to figure out how to get to him." Hermione didn't want to give away too much. There was research to be done and a plan to be mapped out before she would strike. She didn't want to risk Lucius getting away again.  
"Hermione, you do know that if you go after him alone the whole Weasley clan will have your head when you're done with Lucius?" George knew her too well to not at least give her a proper warning.  
"I know George, I won't go after him alone. I work in the Ministry, I have contacts, you know?" Hermione winked, but she knew he was not completely wrong to warn her. She had a habit of doing things alone, "Thanks for playing Vals bodyguard today."  
George dismissed her last words, "It's nothing. The shop is running fine without me there all the time. We had a lovely day. But I should probably go now, before Val finds out about Ylorguses and Ighargles..."  
Val blushed and admitted, "I can't believe I was so naive. I thought you were telling the truth! I'll get you back for that!"  
George laughed and said his good byes before flooing home.  
"Dinner?" Hermione asked.  
"Yes, please." Valerie answered, her stomach growling a little.  
Hermione started on dinner as a great white owl swooped in through the window.  
"It's for you." Val said, getting up to get owl treats.  
Hermione took the letter and Valerie fed the bird before it left the kitchen again.  
"Who's it from?" Valerie asked. Hermione's face turned a brilliant shade of red before she answered, "Oh it's just a quick note from Ginny. She says she misses me."  
Valerie snickered, "I doubt those were her words, but I'll let you get away with it this one time."  
"Sit down. Dinner is ready!" Hermione was still a bit flushed, but seemed to have gained her composure back a bit. She put the letter into the back pocket of her trousers and sat down to eat too.

"Valerie, get up!" Hermione raced into the other girls room and frantically pulled open the curtains.  
"Mmmh. Just another 5 minutes, Mum," Valerie mumbled into her pillow. But Hermione didn't have time for that. She had overslept, for the first time in forever, she had not woken up before her alarm clock and that was the day, the batteries had died. _Damn, Muggle alarm clocks!_  
"Get up, Val! I overslept. You have about 5 minutes to get ready, then we're leaving!" Hermione panicked. She had no experience being late to anything and there were trials scheduled for this morning, she had to be on time. She had never been happier in her life about being a witch. After she was sure, that Valerie had understood the situation and was in fact getting up, Hermione ran into the bathroom shedding her pyjamas on the way. It took her 5 minutes to do her hair, brush her teeth, get washed and dressed and she still had time to pack her stuff for work.  
Valerie joined her in the bathroom fully clothed, grabbed her toothbrush and went to get her things ready for a day at the Burrow.  
Hermione was serious about not leaving Valerie to her own devices while Lucius was on the lose. Her being a freelance photographer had made Hermione's planning a bit easier. Today, Valerie would be spending the morning with Molly. She would bring her laptop and photo camera and after lunch Molly would join her in her Studio in London.  
Miraculously, they were ready to leave only 5 minutes later than anticipated. Hermione decided that apparating would be much faster than the floo and without warning grabbed Valerie and apparated both of them to the Weasley's garden.  
"Hermione! I thought we're going to use the floo!" Valerie screamed, looking a bit pale.  
"Sorry, there was no time for that," Hermione apologized.  
They made their way to the kitchen, were they were greeted by Molly with big bear hugs.  
"Oh dear, did you apparate her, Hermione?" Molly asked with a concerned look, "Come here Val, sit down, I'll get you a good cup of tea. You get used to apparating after a couple of times."  
"Thanks for spending the day with Val, Molly. I really appreciate it. I'm in a bit of a hurry, though. Bye, you two," Hermione said and with a wave she was gone.  
"I hate it when she just apparates me," Valerie sighed and took a sip of her tea.

When she got to her office, she found another letter on her desk. This time there was no knife stuck in it. Her name was on the envelope, but she didn't recognise the handwriting.  
She sat down in her chair and proceeded to open the letter.  
There were a couple of photos showing Valerie on her way to her Studio, going shopping at the market and doing other regular things that she had done in the last few days, always in company. They were magical pictures. There was a very short note on the back of one of the pictures, "You can't protect her forever." It was the same penmanship as on the envelope.  
Hermione felt the hair on her neck stand up. Was this Lucius' idea of a threat? At least she knew now, that he was indeed watching the most vulnerable of her friends. She was happy she had thought of a plan to have Valerie guarded at all times.  
"Miss Granger, you're needed in the courtroom in five minutes," Hermione's thoughts were interrupted by one of the assistants. She nodded and started to get her documents before walking to the courtroom.

The rest of Hermione's day was busy with trials and preparations for more trials. She hardly had time to think about Valerie and Lucius' threat. Shortly before she decided to leave one of the assistants stepped into her office with another envelope.  
This time Hermione knew exactly who had written her name on the letter and the thought of what this person had written last time made her blush once again. She took out the letter and read.

_Dear Hermione,_

_I know you're not the biggest Quidditch fan, but I thought maybe you would enjoy watching me play. We're playing Puddlemere on Thursday at their new stadium in Dartford._  
_I've enclosed two tickets, because I thought you might want to bring Valerie. There are Muggle-Protection-Charms in place, but I thought if anyone can figure out how to work around them it's you._  
_Usually, they let the reporters in the locker room after we're all showered and dressed, but it will only take a couple of minutes. After that, I'd like to take you two out for a Butterbeer to celebrate our victory._  
_I hope to see you there,_  
_love,_  
_G._

Hermione stuffed the letter back into the envelope with the tickets and smiled happily. Ginny was right, Hermione was not the biggest Quidditch fan, but watching the redhead fly was always a pleasure.  
She decided to pick Valerie up at her studio and relieve Molly of her babysitter duties instead of waiting for them at home.  
Five minutes later, Hermione was out on the streets and walking the short distance.  
She arrived at the old factory and pressed the buzzer. The door opened almost instantly and Hermione made her way up the stairs. The lift had not worked for years.  
"Hello, is anybody in?" Hermione called.  
"We're in the dark room. Almost done. Be right out," Valerie called back, obviously deep in concentration.  
Hermione sat down on an old and rugged sofa and grabbed a book from her purse.  
Fifteen minutes later, Molly and Valerie emerged from the dark room and stepped into the well lit loft that functioned as Valeries photo studio.  
"Hello Hermione, dear. Did you have a good day at work?" Molly asked and hugged Hermione.  
"Yes, thank you. Two more Death Eaters confined to the cells of Azkaban. How was your day?" Hermione replied.  
"Oh, for the first time in my life, I understood Arthur and his fascination with all things Muggle. This photo-making process is really very interesting," Molly confessed.  
"I'm glad you had fun, Molly," Valerie beamed. She always enjoyed showing off her photo skills.  
"Well, I think it's time I got home," Molly stated.  
"Thank you for babysitting Valerie. I really appreciate that you all help out with keeping her safe. Especially, since today I have intel on Lucius targeting specifically her," Hermione informed the two women.  
"Does that mean you know he's after me?" Valerie asked, a slight tremble in her voice.  
"Yes. There is evidence of that. But don't worry we'll keep you safe," Hermione tried to assure her friend.  
"We got him once, we'll get him once again. Don't you worry, dear," Molly squeezed Valerie tightly, "You're in good hands. Hermione really is the cleverest witch of her age, you know. Have a good evening, you two." And with that Molly disapparated.  
"You are? The cleverest witch, I mean," Valerie asked.  
Hermione blushed, "That's what they say. I say I just read a lot. But let's get going. I'm hungry and it's your turn to cook."

After dinner, Hermione pulled Ginny's letter from her purse and presented it to Valerie.  
"Would you like to accompany me to Ginny's Quidditch game on Thursday?" she asked.  
"Really? Can I come? I thought Muggles were not allowed at these events?" Valerie asked excitedly.  
"There are a couple of Muggle-Protection-Spells in place to keep Muggles out, but I have an idea on how to get you in anyway. I'm not the best person to go with, since I'm not as invested in it as Ron or Harry, but I'll be able to explain some things. And I still have the Omnioculars Harry bought for me at the Quidditch World Cup," Hermione said.  
"What are Omnioculars?" Valerie was confused.  
"They are the wizard equivalent to Muggle binoculars. The fun part is that they can slow down and replay what you just saw," Hermione explained.  
Valerie was excited. She quickly washed the dishes and sat down with Hermione's copy of Quidditch through the ages to read up on the rules of the game.  
Hermione joined her in the living room with a book of her own. She was not able to get a lot of reading done, however, because Valerie kept asking her questions, "Which position does Ginny play?"  
"She's a Chaser. One of those scoring the goals," Hermione explained, the dreamy look on her face rivaling that of Luna Lovegood.  
"Do they sell merchandise at these games? I'd really like to get a team t-shirt or something," Valerie kept asking all sorts of questions until even she had to give in to sleep and went to bed.

**A/N: next chapter is going to be the Quidditch match and I had tons of fun writing that...**


	10. Chapter 10

_A/N: As promised, here is the Quidditch game. I had a ton of fun writing it, so I really hope you like it._

_The grumpy girl edited it, so any spelling mistakes are on her ;) j/k. Also, I want to thank her for editing and - insert subtle promotion - make you aware that she just started her own story here: /s/8840852/1/All-Work-No-Play - fanfiction won't let me post actual links, so just imagine the part in front of that or search for thegrumpygirl._

_So enjoy your new chapter now, let me know what you think and have a great New Years Eve!_

**Chapter Ten**

Thursday evening arrived fast. Valerie was overly excited and had spent the day with George at the shop in Diagon Alley. She had exchanged some Muggle money, so she could buy herself something at the merch stand at the stadium. George had spent almost the entire day explaining plays and manoeuvres to Valerie until even he couldn't bear it anymore. She seemed insatiable though and begged him to let her go to Quality Quidditch Supplies or a book shop so she could find out more about the sport. George had finally given in and instructed one of his employees to look after the shop for an hour or two before leaving with Valerie.

When they entered the shop she was overwhelmed. There were miniature broomsticks flying around and Quidditch robes for all purposes of all colours in all sizes were on display. There was a book section and Valerie was in heaven. She was not quite the bookworm Hermione was, but she loved books too. In the end she decided to buy two books, one for herself with the promising title "Quidditch Strategy: There are no more new moves" and one for Hermione titled "101 things to do in a Quidditch stadium while the others watch the boring game". Valerie was content with her yield and accompanied George back to his shop.

Shortly before closing time Hermione dropped by to pick up Valerie, "Hello you two. Did you have a good day?" she said, hugging first George and then her flatmate.

"I explained just about everything I ever knew about Quidditch to her. She's worse than you. When she wants to know something, she'll bug you for as long as it takes until she gets what she wants," George pretended to complain.

"Yes, and I begged him long enough to come to Quality Quidditch with me," Valerie beamed, "I got you something, too." Valerie then produced the book from behind her back and handed it over to Hermione, "For when we're there and you get bored by the game," Valerie added.

"Thanks Val, I appreciate it. If it's not already in there, I will add "Thing 102: Watching your super hot girlfriend crush the other team", Hermione chuckled.

"How will we get to the stadium?" Valerie asked, with a slightly shaky voice. She really didn't want to apparate but she somehow doubted that they had a fireplace at the stadium to floo into.

"I'm afraid we'll have to apparate. Because flooing would only work to the nearest wizarding pub and it's outside the bounds of the Muggle repelling spell. I won't be able to get you into the stadium then," Hermione explained.

"Muggle repelling spell?" Valerie looked slightly offended.

"I didn't name it, Val. And it's for the protection of Muggles and Wizards alike. Anyway, if you were to walk to the stadium from the pub, you'd run into the spell, forget what you wanted there and go home. However, if we apparate right into the middle of it all, you should be safe," Hermione explained further.

Valerie sighed. She had tried her best but it seemed to her Apparition was unavoidable, "Alright then, let's get it over with." She put her arm around Hermione's waist and braced herself. With an almost inaudible pop they were gone.

"Wow!" was what Valerie meant to say. All that came out of her standing widely agape mouth was hot air, though. Hermione had apparated them right in front of the stadium. It was huge and impressive and reminded Valerie a bit of a football stadium but also of the Colosseum in Rome. She regretted not bringing her camera.

"I take it you are quite impressed?" Hermione asked with a smirk on her face, while rummaging around in her pocket.

"Uh huh," Valerie said, still staring at the building in front of her, then slowly taking in the people filing into the entrances. When she realised that Hermione was shoulder deep in her bag a slight panic rose in her, "Please tell me you have the tickets?"

"Yes, don't worry. I'm looking for something else," Hermione kept her arm deep in her bag when suddenly her face lit up, "Hah, I found it." She pulled out one of Valerie's cameras and handed it to her, "I thought you might want that. I wasn't sure if it's the right one though."

Valerie quickly took her camera and hugged her friend, "Yes, thank you. I was so excited that I forgot it at home. Can we go in now?" She took a few snapshots and waited for Hermione to show her around.

The two of them went in and headed to the merchandise stand. "One of those t-shirts, please," Valerie said pointing at a simple green t-shirt with a Harpies logo on the front, "and one of those #5 pins." Valerie took the pin, stuck it to Hermione's top and gave her a satisfied look, "Perfect! Now you look like a proper fan."

"You know what these pins do, don't you?" Hermione asked, but didn't wait for the answer, "they give you a close up of what the player with the respective number is doing during the game."

"Well, it's lucky I picked Ginny's number then, isn't it?" Valerie grinned. Hermione poked Valerie gently in the ribs and then urged her forward to make their way to the seats.

"This is great, we can see everything from here!" Valerie was delighted.

"Sit down Val, the referee is already on the pitch," Hermione called her friend to order.

Suddenly a voice echoed through the stadium, "Wizards and Witches, welcome to London. You are about to see a great match. The Holyhead Harpies face Puddlemere United in a friendly game of Quiddtitch. My name is Lee Jordan and here are you teams.

Hermione smiled. S, so Lee had stuck with his talents and had become a full time Quidditch commentator. She didn't have a lot of time to ponder this because the crowd erupted in a deafening roar as the home team clad in navy blue robes raced through the stadium in circles. Lee's voice boomed through the stadium announcing the names and positions of the players. After their introductions the players landed on the pitch next to the referee.

"And now Witches and Wizards, please welcome the visiting team: the Holyhead Harpies! Here is Gwenog Jones, captain and one of two brilliant beaters. There are rumours that this will be her last season as an active player. Here we have the other beater, Jane Choyce, famous for her defensive beating skills. And here is the Harpies' Seeker Malorie Newwiggle. This is her first season, but she seems almost unbeatable. And she's a real looker, too."

Lee seemed to be having a lot of fun introducing the players and the crowd went wild with excitement. Finally, the last three players of the team in green raced into the stadium never breaking formation. Ginny was flanked by two of her teammates and if Valerie thought the cheers had been loud before, she couldn't believe what she heard now. "And with the number five on her back, our fan favourite and unstoppable Chaser, Ginny Weasley. She scored..."

Lee's voice was drowned out by the audience. Valerie glanced over at Hermione who was beaming with pride. When the noise had settled enough, Valerie heard Lee finish his last sentences about Ginny, "...and hey Ginny, how about a drink after the game?"

As the crowd boomed with laughter Hermione's expression changed from pride to jealousy momentarily and Valerie had to squeeze her shoulder reassuringly. "You know, she wouldn't do that, right?"

Hermione nodded but didn't lose the grim face. She took a look at the pin on her chest and saw how Ginny shot Lee the most devastating look. This brightened her mood instantly.

Moments later the game began and Ginny was already on her way to the goal posts with a quaffle in her hand. "Ah, I knew this one is a keeper, I mean Chaser. Ginny Weasley is on her way, better look out Puddlemere United. Oh no, it's too late. The Quaffle already went through the middle hoop. The Harpies lead by 10 and we're not even five minutes into the game." Again, Lee was barely audible over the crowd. Valerie was glued to her Omnioculars and tried to take in as much as she could, while Hermione was busy watching her girlfriend gracefully evading the other teams' defence. She couldn't take her eyes off Ginny, flaming hair trailing in the wind along with her green Quidditch robes. Hermione's eyes were glued to Ginny, when suddenly a Puddlemere player slammed into her, visibly knocking the breath out of her. Ginny lost the Quaffle to the enemy player and had to slow down and regain her breath.

"Now that didn't look too good. Weasley took quite a hit from Thom Iggleson there. I hope it wasn't too bad. I've hardly ever seen her slow down, even after the hardest hits," Lee's voice seemed concerned. But then Ginny lifted up her hand, showing her team and the rest of the people in the stadium that she was okay. "Ah, that's my girl! I knew that nothing could slow her down for long. Better be careful Iggleson, Weasley is out for revenge." Lee seemed to back to his old wits and Hermione was back to her grim face. She knew that Lee was in a spell proof box, but she was tempted to try and silence him anyway.

"Puddlemere has the Quaffle. Iggleson passes to Hornsprack. And back to Iggleson. There's Weasley on her way to intercept. She fails. Now everything rests on the very pretty shoulders of Harpies keeper Silvana Sundraggle. Iggleson passes to Hornsprack. And there's Orknell! Out of nowhere! And the Quaffle is through! The score is 60 to 70 in favour of the team in green. And still no sign of the Snitch. Both Seekers are hovering high above the pitch looking out for that glimpse of gold. Aaah, a time out, called by Puddlemere United it seems."

Lee kept on talking about possible strategies for both teams and Hermione squinted to see Ginny down on the pitch hastily chugging down a refreshment while listening to her Coach explain something.

Hermione was stunned by her girlfriends' good looks. Even windswept and all sweaty she looked gorgeous or maybe just because of her dishevelled state she looked gorgeous. Hermione pushed the thought aside, deciding to ponder the various causes of Ginny's beauty at a later time. For now she was content basking in Ginny's good looks.

Two minutes later the players were back up in the air and the the game sped up even more. Goal after goal was scored and when most of the audience had almost forgotten about it the Golden Snitch made its appearance.

Lee was beyond excited: „There it is! The Snitch has been sighted. Malorie Newwiggle and Charlotte Baxter are on their way down. And they're descending fast, look at them go!. The two of them are shooting to the ground almost vertically. Baxter seems to be a little in front but Newwiggle is not far behind!"

Lees voice almost cracked as the two seekers swerved and followed the Snitch around the stadium wall in circles. „They're after it at break neck speed! I think their feet are almost touching the ground. And in the meantime Harpies Chaser Daere Hywel scored another goal. What?! Jane Choyce is racing down towards the ground as well now! There is a Bludger on its way to the two seekers. It seems all the other Beaters are too far away. Professional Quidditch Bludgers are 10 inch solid iron balls. A hit to the head could be lethal…"

Lee fell suddenly silent as the Bludger hit Malorie Newwiggle square in the chest, „...Newwiggle! She is off her broom, tumbling on the ground. It is lucky the two seekers are not up very high, yet at this speed and given the bludger to the chest, this could still be a very serious injury. Puddlemere Seeker Charlotte Baxter lost speed but is now in hot pursuit of the Snitch again. But what is this? Ginny Weasley cuts in and falls in line with Baxter! She is racing after the Snitch. Some of you may know that Weasley played Seeker in her first ever Quidditch season back at Hogwarts. This will show if she still has it in her. Newwiggle is still on the ground, mediwizards are with her now. I can't really see what's going on, but let's hope it's not too serious. Judging from the state of her broom, though..."

Lee's voice trailed off and after a second he focused on the game again. „Weasley and Baxter are still head to head in the race for the Snitch. Whoa, look at that! They're shooting straight up now; this is serious business at this speed. Ginny Weasley's athletic build might actually be a slight disadvantage for her here. Baxter is a tad lighter and faster. But what's that, the Snitch is going down again, flying a zig-zag course to get rid of its pursuers. Both players are almost within reach now. I don't remember a Quidditch game this thrilling ever, especially a friendly game like this one."

Lee was talking even faster than usually as a result of his excitement. Hermione and Valerie, and probably the rest of the audience with them, were holding their breaths as they watched the chase.

The other players just sat on their brooms and watched too, forgetting that there was an actual game going on. Only the beaters were still doing their job, keeping the Bludgers as far away from the pitch as they could.

Hermione grabbed Valerie's hand for support, whispering to herself, „please be careful, please be careful," over and over again, while at the same time wishing and praying that Ginny would catch the Snitch.

„Let me explain this to everyone not so familiar with the rules of the game," Lee launched into Quidditch-expert mode, „Both teams have called all the allowed time outs, so there is no chance for the Harpies to send in another Seeker. This means that one of the other players is allowed to take on this role. It is a very little known fact that would require a lot of knowledge of the sport, but I always knew that my girl is good at what she does," Lee kept on gushing. „Now what's that? Ginny is inching forward on her broom trying to get in front of her opponent. They are both flying at top speed and none of them can grab the Snitch from where they are. This is a risky move, considering that they are both on Firebolts that go 150 miles per hour. Weasley is now about an arm's length in front of Baxter, who is fighting hard to gain speed."

And before Lee could say anything the crowd erupted into a deafening cheer that almost knocked Valerie back into her seat. Ginny had caught the Snitch, Hermione was jumping up and down next to her, fans were hugging each other and applauding. Ginny slowed down and flew around the Stadium with the Snitch in her hand. Her teammates closed in on her to hug and congratulate her. Ginny was grinning like mad, while her eyes kept searching for a special pair of brown eyes in the audience. She found Hermione and Valerie in the stands and flew up to them. She landed in between them, accepting congratulations from the people around her and offering the Snitch to Valerie as a present, „Keep this as a souvenir from your first Quidditch game, will you?" Ginny said, still panting for air and sweating heavily. Valerie accepted her present and held it out for the crowd to see. Hermione hugged Ginny, whispering congratulations in her ear, „I'm proud of you, this was great. I wasn't even bored once."

Ginny broke their hug, looked deep into her girlfriend's eyes and leaned in for a celebratory kiss. Their lips met and the audience fell silent, not believing their eyes. Even Lee was at a loss for words for a few moments before finding his tongue again: „Hm, it seems that my chances for a date with my favourite Chaser just shrunk considerably."

The crowd laughed and as Ginny broke the kiss to get back on her broom. Hermione was left in the stands flushed with excitement and blushing at the admiring wolf whistles around her.

„Well, I think that makes it official, I guess," she said to Valerie who was still more impressed with the golden ball in her hand than with the very public declaration that Ginny had just made.

„Congratulations," she said, tearing her eyes away from the snitch, "I believe you have an actual girlfriend now and all the world knows it!" Valerie patted Hermione on the back approvingly.

Suddenly, Hermione's goofy grin faltered and transformed into an expression of utter horror and panic. „Shit," she said.

Valerie almost couldn't believe her ears but was too preoccupied with everything she'd just witnessed to worry about it. „What's up Hermione, it's a good thing, having a girlfriend," she tried to cheer up her friend innocuously.

Hermione turned to Valerie, her face lined with worry," No, don't you understand, Val. Now there is one more person on Lucius' shortlist for people to go through to get to me.

Valerie's cheery face turned to match Hermione's expression, „Shit."


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: **So here is the next chapter. But before I let you read it, I wanted to say thank you to everyone who left one of those nice - and really motivating - reviews or sent me a PM. I really appreciate it, your reviews make me want to keep writing. So please keep reviewing, it really helps. And hello to all the new people following the story, I hope you all enjoy it.

Originally, this chapter was completely different and I had already written three chapters in advance. When I read through them again, I just wasn't feeling it and scrapped it all and rewrote the whole thing. That also means, that I don't have any extra chapters lying around at the moment and I don't know how fast I'll be able to get the next chapter out. I'll try. Promised.

In the meantime, here is Chapter 11.

**Chapter Eleven**

An hour later, after the audience had trickled out of the stadium, the journalists were done with their interviews and the players had had time to shower, Hermione and Valerie were waiting for Ginny at the side entrance of the stadium.

Hermione tried to keep up appearances but she wasn't fooling anyone. Val knew her well enough to know what was going on. "Calm down! She'll be out soon and then you can take all the time you want to tear her head off. But, please, until then stop pacing!" Valerie scolded.

Hermione stopped pacing and looked at her friend, "I'm sorry. I'm just so… so furious. I mean, Ginny has been through a war. She should know better. She should be…" Hermione stopped talking when she saw her girlfriend exit through the door, her fellow teammates in tow.

When Ginny saw Hermione she wanted to rush over immediately but noticing the thinly veiled emotion on her face, Ginny stopped dead in her tracks. In no time Hermione was standing in front of her. "Have you lost your mind? Did you even think what you were doing? You really should know better than that, Ginny. I mean, have you learnt nothing from the war? Did you have to put -"

But before Hermione could continue Ginny had shut her up with a kiss. Hermione couldn't help herself and just gave in, kissing Ginny back almost immediately. _Oh dammit, Granger, you've waited too long for this to happen to be mad about a kiss in public. Just enjoy it._

"A little whipped, aren't we?" Valerie quipped, "or was this your way of telling Ginny how mad you are at her?"

Hermione broke the kiss and glared at Valerie in mock anger, "Oh, just shut up."

"Hermione, I understand it might've been stupid to just kiss you like that. I was just so happy and overwhelmed by the situation. I mean for the first time in years you were there to watch me play a game of Quidditch and we won, I wanted to show you how I felt," Ginny explained, taking Hermione's hand to emphasize how she felt..

Hermione sighed, "Actually, Ginny, I've been to all your games. I haven't missed a single one. I particularly enjoyed last year's game against the Chudley Cannons. I won 20 Galleons from Ron when the Harpies won," she said thoroughly enjoying the expression on her girlfriend's face.

Both, Ginny and Valerie stood there dumbfounded. "Sunday. Book club,…" Valerie whispered suddenly understanding.

"Hey Weasley, you coming?" one of the other Chasers called from amidst a group of Harpies a few meters over. Ginny turned around and called back, "Not today. But you go on and have fun!"

"So where are we going now?" Valerie asked having a hunch that wherever it was it would entail apparating.

"Well, I don't know about you both but I just played a game of Quidditch. I was planning on finding something to eat and then fall asleep. I'm sorry, but I'm spent," Ginny admitted hoping not to disappoint Hermione too much.

_Typical. Food first. She could never deny she is a Weasley. _

"How about we go back to our flat, I cook something and then you apparate back to… where is it you're staying, actually? Are you still living at the Burrow or have you moved into team quarters yet?" Hermione suggested realizing she had no idea where her girlfriend lived.

"That sounds absolutely lovely. Let's go, I'm starving!" Ginny replied and her eyes lit up at the thought of Hermione cooking for her.

"You're _always_ starving, Gin. After you." Hermione quipped and made a grand gesture as if letting Ginny walk through a door first. Ginny flashed her a quick smirk and with a pop she was gone.

"I still can't wrap my head around people appearing and disappearing at will," Valerie admitted as she gripped Hermione's arm. "Don't worry, you'll get there eventually," she answered and apparated them into the bathroom, just in case.

They had barely arrived when Hermione noticed a hand on her mouth. She was about to struggle when her eyes went into focus and she saw Ginny, her other hand covering Valerie's mouth. Hermione shot her a questioning look when she heard voices from the sitting room. Ginny carefully took her hand back and put one finger over her own lips to tell the others to be quiet. Valerie nodded and signaled that her stomach was fine.

"The mudblood is not here, boss!" they heard a man say.

"She's probably still at her girlfriends game," came the reply from a familiar voice.

Draco.

_What the hell is Draco doing in my flat? And how does he know about me and Ginny?_

Hermione took out her wand and silently went to the bathroom door. She opened it a bit further and peered through. No one was in the hallway, but what she saw shocked her nonetheless. All her things had been tossed around and strewn on the floor.

They heard a thudding sound as if books were falling on the carpet. Hermione's temper rose. They were ransacking the place. "That. Foul. Git. I'm going to…" Hermione hissed between her teeth before Ginny's hand stopped her from talking again. She just shook her head, took out her wand and turned around to Valerie. She motioned for her to hide and stay as quiet as she could. Tired of being the one who couldn't do anything, Valerie sighed and hid in the shower.

"Draco, I've found something," said yet another voice, this one female, but unfamiliar. _How many of them are there?_

Ginny saw Hermione get riled up and put her hand on her shoulder to calm down the brunette witch. "We need to do something, Ginny!" she whispered.

"We don't know how many there are and what they are looking for." Ginny replied.

_Since when am I the voice of reason?_ she wondered

"Give it here, you idiot" Draco said, "you must be even thicker than I thought. Did they not teach you to read? This is the address of a Monika Wilkins and her husband Wendell. I don't see the word Granger anywhere on this!" Draco crumpled up the piece of paper and made sure to throw it into a corner where Hermione would be able find it again.

Hermione's eyes widened in fear and kept scolding herself for being stupid enough to write down her parents' address as if she didn't have the mind to memorize it.

"If you can't find anything else, we should leave. We don't know when she'll be back," Draco sneered.

"Awww. Is little Draco afraid of the mudblood?" the female voice taunted.

"Shut up, Daphne and make yourself useful. Do I need to remind you of who's in charge?" Draco retaliated.

"Boss, I still have to go through the bedrooms. Maybe she hid something there," the male voice suggested.

"Alright, but be quick about it," Draco consented somewhat reluctantly.

"That's it," Hermione exploded. Brandishing her wand she stormed into the sitting room, petrifying Daphne who was too startled to react in time and keeled over backwards. Before Draco was sure of how to react, Ginny had cast Incarcerous on him, binding his arms to his sides. "Herm…," he began but Hermione shut him up with a glare.

Ginny and Hermione searched the bedrooms for the third person but he seemed to have apparated at the first sign of trouble. Hermione went over to Daphne and cast a Muffliato Charm to make sure the Slytherin wouldn't hear what she was about to say.

"What the hell were you thinking, Draco? Did you think you could just walk into my flat and turn it upside down? What the fuck are you playing at?" she unleashed.

Draco's eyes widened in surprise at Hermione's unrestrained use of expletives and Ginny very nearly gave herself whiplash when turning her head in Hermione's direction.

"Whoa Herm… Granger, let's not forget who just crumpled up that piece of parchment and didn't keep the names of your parents!" Draco defended himself, "and you have to give me some ground or I won't be very useful to you, anyway." Draco sat down on Hermione's couch and sighed. He looked like a puppy caught with his master's favourite shoe.

Ginny couldn't believe what she had heard, "what do you mean 'be useful'?" No one answered her. "Hermione, what is he talking about?" Ginny insisted. She didn't care if she interrupted Hermione's thoughts, she wanted answers.

Hermione turned to face her girlfriend and put her hand on her shoulder. She thought Ginny looked adorable when she was confused and just barely keeping her temper in check. She squeezed her shoulder and answered evenly, "Draco is helping me find Lucius. He's been feeding me information. Nothing terribly useful yet," Hermione glared at Draco, "but I was hoping he'd be able to find out where his father was".

"He's monitoring you and your owls. I don't know how he does it, but he has copies of every letter you send and receive!" Draco said quickly, to prove he wasn't entirely useless.

Hermione looked at Ginny and blushed. "Yes, he also has that letter Weasley sent you!"

That was all it needed for Ginny to lose the grip on her temper. She wanted to explode but Lucius wasn't there, so instead, she started pacing the room muttering incomprehensibly and voicing ideas of what she would do if she got her hands on him.

"Ginny, please stop walking holes in my carpet and go get Valerie from the shower" Hermione ordered and ignored the dirty look Draco shot her.

As soon as Ginny was out of earshot, Hermione bowed down to Draco and whispered in a dangerously low voice, "I'm going to unbind you and I'm going to lift the Muffliato I cast on Daphne, you will stupefy me, grab her and disapparate. This way you can save face and maybe be useful in the future. I want information, Draco, useful information. And soon. Remember who I am. If you're not useful to me, I can just as easily have you arrested for aiding your father to rebuild the Death Eater movement. Understood?"

Draco nodded slowly, distracted by Hermione's breath in his ear and smelling her perfume. He could barely concentrate on her words. But as quickly as she had been in his personal space she was gone again and he felt the rope binding his arms was gone. He quickly grabbed his wand and cried, "Stupefy!"

Hermione saw him running over to Daphne before she hit the wall behind her and gave in to the blackness around her.

"Hermione!" Valerie cried and rushed over to the limp body of her best friend against the wall.

"That bastard! I don't care if he's working for us now. If he comes near her again, I'll personally make sure he regrets it," Ginny fumed as she helped Valerie carry Hermione to the couch. She checked her quickly but couldn't find any blood. "She's just unconscious. She'll be fine," she explained to Valerie, "in the meantime, let's clean up a bit, shall we?"

But before Valerie could start picking up stuff, she watched in awe as Ginny cast several Reparos and everything started to fall back into place. Valerie thought it all rather looked like a video played backwards.

Several minutes later, Hermione came to and saw everything in place again. Ginny and Valerie had made some tea and were sitting next to her. "Welcome back, love." Ginny greeted her and gently pushed a strand of hair out of Hermione's face.

Hermione sat up and groaned when her head threatened to explode. _Brilliant, Granger. You could've told him to body bind you. And they call you the brightest witch of your age. Hardly_. Hermione chuckled sarcastically at her own thoughts but quickly stopped since it only hurt her head more.

She pulled herself together, ignoring the pain. "We can't stay here. Now that they know where we live. Valerie, please, go get my duffle bag from my room," Hermione said. Her thoughts were racing. She was in full battle mode again.

While Valerie searched for the dufflebag Hermione hatched out a plan. "Ginny, we can't ask your mother, knowing that Lucius monitors my owls but I think it will be safest to stay at the Burrow for a while."

Ginny nodded, "Mum won't mind. It will give her an excuse to cook lots. You know how she is. And Dad will be excited to have a real Muggle stay with them." Ginny took Hermione's hand reassuringly. She knew the brunette didn't want to impose herself on anyone, "and by the way, I still live there, at the Burrow. I haven't yet moved to team quarters. But now I have yet another reason to delay my move." Ginny grinned cheekily and Hermione pretended to look scandalized. She was looking forward to seeing more of Ginny. She had missed her terribly this week and being close to the redheaded witch was really all she wanted right now.

Hermione took Ginny's face in her hands and moved closer to kiss her. She could feel Ginny's breath on her lips and got completely lost in her own thoughts and fantasies.

"Excuse me, could you two please keep your hands off each other for a few more minutes. Hermione, I found your duffle bag. What now?" Valerie said as she came back into the room, clearly in a foul mood. She hated being the one everyone had to look out for anyway, now her flat had been invaded and she was only beginning to grasp how dangerous this Lucius character was.

Hermione got to her feet and shifted into Ministry-mode, "Ginny, block the floo," she ordered, "we can't have the flat on the floo network anymore. Then help shrink every piece of furniture and put it in my trunk. I'll be packing clothes and other stuff.

Valerie take my dufflebag and start packing your things. You'll find that it holds quite a lot more than one would think."

A couple of minutes later the flat looked empty. Valerie was holding the dufflebag and Hermione her battered old beaded bag. Ginny was holding onto the old trunk marked with Hermione's initials. Ginny nodded and with a silent pop she was gone.

Valerie sighed dejectedly and grabbed Hermione's arm before they too were gone.

**A/N:** This was it. Thanks for reading and please leave a review. Thanks...


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N:** Voilà, another chapter! I want to give a shout-out to my wonderful beta read kyresar for reading, editing, correcting and inputting :) Thank you!

Thank you to all the readers too and especially those who write reviews (yes, I'm fishing!).

This chapter took a while to write and was edited a thousand times before even kyresar got to read it. I hope you like it... Enjoy.

(PS: if there are any french speakers out there and you find any mistakes, please let me know, I'll correct them immediately - my french is more than a bit rusty.)

**Chapter 12**

Hermione woke because of a particularly stubborn ray of light coming in through the window.

Momentarily, she was disoriented. But then she felt an arm around her waist and smiled, remembering last night.

_They had arrived at the Burrow scaring Molly half to death, but quickly explaining what had happened. True to herself Molly had offered them a late dinner and some tea, which they had gratefully accepted._

_Valerie had put up camp in Bill's room and Molly had assumed that Hermione could stay in Ginny's room._

"_We still have that old camp bed, if you need it. I don't know if you two…I mean, I'm…," Molly had stammered._

"_Really, Mum, it's fine. We're fine, we'll manage. Don't worry," Ginny calmed down her mother and Hermione nodded in agreement._

"_Well, alright then. You should get to bed to catch at least a couple of hours of sleep." Molly had said and consequently ushered all three of them out of her kitchen and upstairs._

_Valerie had wished them a good night and had quickly mouthed a 'thanks for everything' before vanishing in Bill's room. Hermione could see that slowly but steadily it was all getting a bit much for her best friend. As adventurous as she might be, someone was after her life and there was nothing she could do to defend herself. Hermione had been waiting for everything to finally catch up to her and made a mental note to try and cheer her up a little tomorrow._

_Ginny had taken Hermione's hand and drawn her out of her thoughts and into her room._

"_Hermione, please don't understand this the wrong way it might seem a bit sober, but I was too tired to pussyfoot around this even before we got to your flat. Do you want to cuddle up with me in my bed, which I'll have you know is much more comfortable than the camp bed or do you think it is too soon and we need to take it slower? Either is fine with me, I prefer cuddling, but please understand that I will be asleep before I hit the pillow anyway." Ginny had concluded her little speech with another long yawn._

_Then, all of a sudden, Hermione had closed the distance between them and had kissed Ginny passionately, overwhelming the younger witch completely. But before the red head could properly react, Hermione pulled back, "I have wanted to kiss you for way too long to pass up on the opportunity. And I'm glad that you got to the point, because I'm dead tired too. I would love to fall asleep with you close. I remember that camp bed. It wasn't much of a bed years ago, I don't imagine it has improved since then." Hermione answered truthfully. "Let's get to bed," she added and put her hands around Ginny's waist before kissing her again._

_Ginny's breath had hitched at the sudden proximity but not missing a beat this time, she kissed Hermione back feverishly, putting her hands around her neck._

_Before thinking it through too much, Hermione slowly pulled up Ginny's T-shirt and broke the kiss briefly to pull it over her head._

"_I'm not complaining, but what are you doing. Didn't we want to go to bed?" Ginny asked, with heavy eyes but not minding the delay too much._

"_We are. But were you planning on sleeping in your clothes?" Hermione answered in between kisses, already fumbling with Ginny's belt and the buttons of her jeans._

_Ginny had apparently arrived at the realisation that, she too, had hands and started helping Hermione out of her clothes._

_Their kisses had picked up in need and years of pent up desire had been rising to the surface. Hermione had ran her hands up and down Ginny's body, trying to memorise every curve and sensation she felt. When she had realised that her brain was not keeping any information she broke their kiss, "Gin, I love this. I love this way too much, but we need to stop because I don't want this to happen while I'm too tired to remember any of it."_

_Ginny nodded, clearly struggling with words. Her eyes were dark with desire. She stole one last kiss and got her PJ's from a drawer._

_Hermione had put on her nightwear and hopped into bed, closely followed by Ginny. They had settled down facing each other, stealing kisses and fighting to keep their eyes open for just a bit longer. Ginny had put her arms around Hermione and kissed her one more time before giving in to sleep. Hermione had snuggled a bit closer and fallen asleep before she knew it._

Hermione lifted her arm and pushed a couple of strands of hair out of Ginny's face when the younger witch started to stir.

"Mhhm. This is nice. Can we do this every day?" Ginny asked, her eyes still closed, snuggling up to Hermione.

"Not if you move into team quarters, we can't," Hermione relayed and put her hand on Ginny's belly, playing with the fabric of her pyjama top.

Ginny closed her eyes and just enjoyed the warmth of the sunlight and Hermione's body next to her.

Hermione put her head on Ginny's shoulder and let her fingers go walkabout a bit further. _I can't believe this is happening. I'm in bed with Ginny and she loves me just as much as I love her! Oh and Granger, quit being so sappy!_

Hermione smiled at her own thoughts and marvelled at the peaceful moment they were having, when suddenly the door was opened and Valerie stood in the doorframe, rooted to the spot and her trademark smirk playing around her lips, "Get up sleepy heads. Molly sent me upstairs to remind you that you two have jobs."

Hermione groaned and burrowed deeper in to the crook of Ginny's neck. Ginny wordlessly took the pillow from underneath her and sent it flying in Valerie's direction without looking. Valerie made an oomphy kind of sound when she was hit.

"You have good aim, for someone half awake and not looking," Valerie said cheerfully, walking towards the bed.

"Go away, Valerie!" growled Hermione as she heard her friend come closer. _Don't you dare do what I think you're going to do._ Hermione dug her fingers into the blanket and held it in a vice grip.

"Do you want to explain to Molly why you're late?" Valerie asked.

And then all of a sudden she sat down on the bed next to the girls and gave back the pillow. Hermione relaxed visibly.

"I don't want to get up yet," Ginny mumbled into her pillow and turned around, turning her back to Hermione and Valerie.

Valerie gave Hermione an amused look, "Let me guess, you're a morning person?" She said with some sarcasm.

"We really didn't get much sleep, Val. Don't be mean," Hermione defended her girlfriend.

"Not much sleep? Finally! Do tell!" Valerie said excitedly.

"Hey, I'm right here, you know!" Ginny grumbled.

"Val, we didn't get much sleep because we went to bed way too late to be up at this ungodly hour. Nothing happened," Hermione said, but blushed. _Dammit, Granger, can you not learn to control your blood circulation?_

"Of course," Valerie said and shot her a dirty look before getting up.

Suddenly, Valerie grabbed the blanket and pulled it away, leaving the two witches uncovered. _Oh no, Val, you didn't!_

Faster than Valerie had anticipated Ginny was up and after her. Hermione smirked at the sight of it.

Valerie fled over the bed and ran in circles, laughing madly.

"I play Quidditch, Val. I grew up with six older brothers. Give up now and I'll be gentle!" Ginny growled viciously, feigning anger, but she couldn't quite stop a grin.

Hermione got back the blanket and watched the play unfold with an amused smile on her face. She could get used to mornings like this.

"Anything's possible, if you've got enough nerve," Valerie said, wondering where she had heard that before and ran for the door.

Ginny launched after her grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her down on the unused camp bed.

Quickly, Hermione was by their side with a devilish smile on her face, "Gin, would you mind holding Valerie for a minute. I have a debt to settle."

Valerie's face was riddled with fear, "No!"

"Oh yes, I'm going to repay you for all those time you tickled me out of bed in the morning and there is nothing you can do about it!" and in a swift motion Hermione's hands tickled Valeries ribs and sides, making her friend squeal and squirm.

"I told you that I'd get you back for it one day!" Hermione said evenly, enjoying her victory before stopping eventually.

Smiling good naturedly, Valerie panted, "We should get breakfast now. I'll wait downstairs."

After a quick breakfast, George dropped by to pick up Valerie, Ginny apparated to the Stadium while Arthur and Hermione flooed to the Ministry.

When the evening finally arrived and Hermione flooed back to the Burrow, Ginny was already home and arguing with Molly in the kitchen.

"No Mum, as much as I'd like to, I'm not asking Hermione to go on that date with me. I know I asked her out a week ago, but I don't think that given the circumstances she will want to go on a date!" Ginny said, a bit too loud.

"Ginevra, you promised that woman a date and I'm perfectly capable of defending myself. I wasn't in the order for my cooking skills alone, you know!" Molly stated.

"MUM! This is not about your proficiency as a witch, this is about a vicious Death Eater and his entourage!" Ginny retaliated.

"The way you're talking, I'm about to think you don't want to go out with her!" Molly shot back.

Ginny groaned and ran her hands through her hair, "No, I want to go out with her, but I know her. She'll think she left you or George to fend for yourselves for a date that we can have when Lucius is apprehended!"

"And what if that takes another year? You can't put your relationship on hold, just because something is going on. Something is always going on!" Molly said in her best motherly tone.

"Why don't you let me take part in that decision, Gin?" Hermione asked, deciding it was time to stop the conversation, leaving her place in the doorframe and walking into the kitchen.

Ginny left her mother and walked over to greet the brunette with a peck on the lips.

"Sorry, you're right, of course. What would you like to do?" Ginny asked taking Hermione's hands into her own.

_Are you kidding? I've been waiting for this date all week!_

"I admit, I have a bit of a guilty conscience about leaving others to take care of Valerie. Especially, since your family is already babysitting her all day. But your mother is right, we can't wait around for Lucius to attack. What if he decides to take his time? Let's go on this date." Hermione explained.

"Alright, let's go then." Ginny said and smiled broadly at her, "but you'll have to step it up a bit. I'm taking you to a fancy French restaurant. So let's go upstairs, put our glad rags on and I'll apparate us."

"Sure, this time I'm prepared. I don't even need to panic and have Valerie help me find clothes," Hermione admitted.

"I've put your things in Bill's room. I'll pick you up in twenty minutes," Ginny said and bounded up the stairs.

Hermione laughed and followed suit.

Exactly twenty minutes later, there was a light knock on the door, "Hermione, are you ready?" Ginny called from the other side.

Hermione opened the door and couldn't believe her eyes. Ginny was looking gorgeous in a floor length dress that looked like she was wearing the night sky complete with stars. The gown was the darkest blue imaginable and had hundreds of tiny little rhinestones sewn onto it. Hermione was speechless.

But judging from the look on the red head's face, Hermione didn't look too bad either. She had opted for a slightly darker than emerald green gown and an intricate twisted updo.

"You look beautiful, Hermione," Ginny said, finally finding her words.

"So do you." Hermione whispered and kissed her girlfriend passionately.

"Let's get downstairs and tell Mum we're leaving," Ginny said, taking Hermione's hand and leading her downstairs.

"Oh, look at this Arthur, don't they look beautiful?" Molly said, tears in her eyes, when the two young witches came into the kitchen.

Arthur looked up from his newspaper and nodded. He got up and hugged them, "You do look wonderful. Both of you. Have fun tonight, yes?"

"We will. And you still have my phone number?" Hermione said in a very sober tone before perking up again, "I'm sure we won't need it though. I just worry too much."

"Shall we go then?" Ginny asked and held out her arm.

A second later the two witches emerged in a deserted cobble stone street under a street lamp. "This way, please," Ginny said and took Hermione's hand again, leading her down the street and onto another busier one.

Hermione's eyes grew wide, "Gin, we're in Paris!"

Ginny grinned like the cat that got the cream and nodded, "I told you I'm taking you to a fancy French restaurant, didn't I?"

Hermione smiled and put her arm around Ginny's waist, who in turn put her arm around her shoulder. Together they walked a couple of minutes until they were standing in front of a picturesque little restaurant with rose bushes on each side of the entrance. Ginny opened the door and led them inside. "Reservation for Weasley," Ginny told the polite looking Frenchman at the desk.

"Oui, table pour deux. Suivez-moi, s'il vous plaîts," he answered and motioned for them to follow him. He seated them in a corner next to wall overgrown with vine tendrils and handed them a menu each.

"This is so nice, Ginny, how did you find out about this place?" Hermione asked excitedly.

"We were invited by the French Minister for magic when we played a game against the Parisian team last year. The food is divine," Ginny answered.

"Oh Ginny, I can't decide what to eat, it all sounds so lovely!" Hermione said and Ginny smiled with glee at having chosen the right place for their date.

"Bonsoir, je suis Thierry, et je…I vill be your waiter tonight," Thierry said in a heavy French accent.

"Bonsoir Thierry, y at-il quelque chose que vous pouvez recommander?" Hermione said in fluent French, which made Ginny's eyes grow wide.

A very relieved Thierry went on to converse with Hermione about what to have until she decided on the wine braised ox-tail. Ginny had watched in silence until Thierry turned to her, "Et pour vous?" Ginny had no idea what he had just said, but assumed he wanted to take her order, "I'm sorry Thierry, I don't speak French, but I know what I want to eat. I'd like to have the pan seared shrimp. They were too delicious last time."

Thierry nodded and scribbled on his notepad, "Et un verre de vin peut-être?"

Hermione nodded and simply told Thierry to have the sommelier choose the wine that went best with their food.

As soon as the waiter had left their table Ginny couldn't hold back anymore, "I didn't know you spoke French! You should speak it more often. It sound incredibly sexy."

"There is a lot you don't know about me, Ginny." Hermione relayed with a mysterious grin.

Their wine arrived and they fell into a light-hearted conversation, just enjoying themselves and laughing a lot.

"Voilà, le boeuf. Attention, c'est très chaud. Et pour vous Mademoiselle, les crevettes poêlées. Bon appétit," Thierry said as he put down their plates in front of them.

Hermione thanked him and watched Ginny carefully lift her shrimp with a fork.

_Oh so you can eat like a civilised person, then! You just choose to shovel your food into you._

"This oxtail is delicious, Ginny. This restaurant is simply amazing. Thanks for bringing me here." Hermione enthused.

"I'm glad you like it. When we came to Paris to play their Quidditch team, I wanted nothing more than to explore the city with you, but we weren't even on proper speaking terms. It felt like the loneliest city in the world," Ginny reminisced.

"We could come here on our first holiday together, if you like. I'd love to show you my favourite places here," Hermione said dreamily and Ginny's eyes lit up.

They finished their food and ordered a white chocolate cake to share as a dessert.

A short while later, Ginny had paid and they were taking a stroll through the streets of Paris, when suddenly Hermione's phone rang.

"Very confused about who would call her, she fished it out of her purse and it just read 'unknown number'. "Hello?" Hermione picked up. All she could hear was static and cracking sounds and the odd sound that was definitely human, but she couldn't even guess whether it was a woman or a man talking, that's how poor the quality was. "Hello? I can't hear you. Who is this?" Hermione asked again.

"Herm…Arth…Valer…" the caller said and it began to dawn on Hermione. She stopped walking and put her hand on Ginny's shoulder.

A second later, the two witches were standing in the garden in front of the Burrow.

"Hermione, what is it, why did you apparate us? Who was on the phone?" Ginny asked immediately concerned about the worry lined face of her girlfriend.

"I don't know exactly, but I believe it was your father calling," Hermione said and ran towards the door, closely followed by the younger witch.

When she entered, she found Molly sobbing, sitting at the kitchen table, holding a crumpled piece of parchment. Arthur was still stood yelling into the mobile phone in his hands, "Hermione, it's Arthur. You need…Oh, you're here."

"What's happened?" Hermione said meekly, fearing the worst. She felt Ginny put her arm around her waist for support.

"Valerie is gone." Molly said in between sobs.

"They came to the shop. Five of them. And they just took her." George explained, entering from the living room. He looked furious and defeated at the same time.

Hermione's knees buckled and Ginny helped her sit down in a chair.

"I'm sorry, Hermione, I did my best. But there were just too many to fight them alone. I tried to get her into the fireplace but they had separated us. I couldn't even apparate us both out of there. I'm so sorry." George said, his voice growing lower and lower.

Hermione felt tears burn in her eyes, "I should have stayed. Then she wouldn't have been at the shop. Dammit, why am I so selfish?" Tears were streaming down her face and not even Ginny rubbing the small of her back could do anything to help her calm down. "You're not selfish. How could you have known they'd attack tonight. You said yourself, that we had no way of knowing when Lucius would choose to attack," Ginny said, trying to calm down the brunette.

"You were right, I should've listened to you." Hermione talked herself into a frenzy.

"Nonsense. You can't think like that. George, did they say anything?" Ginny asked in an attempt to divert Hermione's attention to gaining facts and hints.

"They sent a note." Molly replied through her sobs.

Reaching over, Hermione took the crumpled piece of parchment and read,

_Mudblood,_

_It's a pity you weren't there to say good bye to your Muggle._

_You have two days to get the charges against me dropped and my assets unfrozen. Fail and you will have missed your chance at good bye forever._

_Please give my regards to the blood traitor, I hear he fought valiantly._

_Lucius Malfoy_

Hermione swallowed back her tears and they could all see the anger that was rising in her.

"That wanker! That complete arse! He is not even worth the dirt under his finger nails. I'll find him and I'll rip his sorry self into pieces. That bloody sod will beg me to put him in Azkaban," Hermione unleashed, finding herself pacing the room. Everyone around the table grew silent. None of them had ever heard Hermione speak in that way before. Even Molly stopped sobbing due to the brunette's outburst, although she couldn't bring herself to reprimand her for using such language, which in normal situations she would have done.

"So, what do we do now? What is the plan?" Ginny asked.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: **Here we go again, slowly but surely the drama unfolds.

Thank you to everyone for writing reviews. And since it was pointed out to me, I just wanted to quickly say this: I'm sorry for perpetuating the age old cliché of French people not speaking English. I am aware that this might have been true once but has gotten a lot better in recent years. I simply wanted Hermione to show off in front of Ginny and thought it might be a good opportunity. And who knows, maybe Thierry is simply not good with languages, because he had a crappy English teacher who hated him and gave him bad marks on all the tests until Thierry started skipping English...sorry, I think I've gone off topic.

Anyway, thanks to the wonderful kyresar for helping me improve my story and for finding all the ridiculous spelling and grammar mistakes I make. A round of applause for her, please!

And now have fun with the next chapter and let me know what you think. It's kind of depressing, I know.

**Chapter 13**

_"So, what do we do now? What is the plan?" Ginny asked._

Hermione got up from her chair and started pacing again, muttering under her breath. From time to time she would massage her temples as if to stimulate her mind to think even faster. Ginny scrunched up her nose, torn between the gravity of the situation and the cuteness of her girlfriend when she was in her element. Thinking.

"We need to get the Ministry involved." Arthur said with intent. Hermione kept pacing and muttering.

"We should put the kettle on." Molly offered and went to make some tea.

"We should talk to some people in Azkaban or on Hermione's list for the trials. I'm sure with a couple of drops of Veritaserum they'll sing like robins." George suggested.

Hermione ignored them all, still pacing.

Ginny walked up to Hermione and put her hands on the brunette's shoulders to stop her mid-motion. Hermione lowered her hands and looked straight into Ginny's eyes, as if woken from a deep sleep. It took her a moment to focus on the red head in front of her. Ginny cupped Hermione's face with one hand and spoke softly, "Hermione, calm down. Walking a hole into the floor will not help you come up with a plan. I know you feel guilty, so do I. But it's no use. Valerie has been taken. We need to focus on how to get her back. 'We', do you hear me? Not you alone. We're all here to help you get her back."

With very measured motions she took out her wand and spoke, "Come to the Burrow. Now." Not a moment later, Ginny's patronus horse appeared, ran a in a circle around the two women and then galloped off.

Ginny put her hand back on Hermione's face and smiled lovingly. "We'll do it like we always do. Together," she said, tucking a strand of hair behind Hermione's ear before pulling her into a hug.

Suddenly, the flames in the fireplace turned green, leaving Harry and Ron standing there looking worried.

"What is going on?" Ron asked. Molly went to get more tea and Arthur beckoned the boys to come closer and sit down.

Harry tried not to look at the two witches in their evening gowns but couldn't quite help himself. They both looked stunning and probably had been out. It stung but he could see how happy they were together, how at peace they were with each other.

Molly put two more cups of steaming hot tea in front of the boys and sat down again.

Ginny let go of Hermione, but kept one arm firmly around the brunette's waist to give her the support she needed. "I asked you to come here, because we need to make up a plan to capture Malfoy," Ginny said, "He's kidnapped Valerie and gave us two days to get the charges against him dropped. If we don't succeed, he threatens to kill her."

"Valerie is a Muggle." Harry said silently.

Hermione shot him a grim look, "What are you saying, Harry?"

She clearly didn't like the implications of that statement.

Harry quickly scrambled to explain himself, "It means that there is a lot of red tape if we want this to go through the official channels. It's a weekend. That already slows things down, but Valerie being a Muggle means, that I would have to get the Muggle-Auror liaison officer involved and trust me, we _don't_ want her to be involved. She usually insist on coming along to every investigation to make sure we don't cock everything up. And there…"

"Harry Potter, you are not using such language in my house!" Molly reprimanded the dark haired man.

Ginny chuckled at the thought of the language Hermione had used just during her outburst a couple of minutes ago, and yet one little word from Harry and her mother was lecturing him.

"I'm sorry, Molly." Harry apologized taking a sip of his tea.

"Do you have a plan?" Ron asked and looked at Hermione. The others turned their heads to look at her too.

"I can't come up with anything. We have nothing to go on. Seems like this is the moment where I disprove Remus." Hermione said.

"Nonsense. Just because you don't already have a plan, doesn't mean, you're not the brightest witch of our age," Ron said and blushed a little.

"Hermione, you once said that you had received information that Valerie was being watched. Who did you get it from? Maybe that's our starting point?" George asked hopefully.

"Of course, that's brilliant, George!" Ginny said and then caught the confused look of her girlfriend.

"Ginny, you know I have no way of contacting him!" Hermione reminded her.

"You do, if you think about it. Just send me a letter!" Ginny countered and then it dawned on Hermione.

"Brilliant!" she exclaimed.

But before the two of them could even begin to explain anything to the confused faces in front of them, there was a loud crack in the garden followed by loud swearing. They all bolted outside.

George was first, as he was closest to the door. Harry and Ron were right behind him, closely followed by Molly and Arthur. Then Ginny and Hermione finally managed to run outside in their evening gowns. Whoever this Muggle designer was, he clearly hadn't thought of a witches need to react quickly to a possible threat.

The Weasleys and Harry had their wands drawn and were shouting at a tall blond man, who was standing a few meters away, shouting back, holding his wand at the ready too.

"Lift your wards, I need to get in and speak to Hermione!" Draco shouted.

"Not bloody likely. I won't let you take her hostage too!" George yelled back.

"I'm not here to kidnap her, I'm here to talk. Now, lift your wards!" the Slytherin bellowed back

"You are braver than I thought, to turn up here like this. After what your father has done. How about I'll teach you a lesson!" Ron growled and flourished his wand, sending a stunner at Draco.

Just in time Hermione, threw up a shield and stepped into the line of fire.

"Hermione, get out of the way! Don't turn your back on him!" Ron wailed, looking alarmed at her carelessness.

"No. Put your wands away," she said, glaring at the family of red heads, "all of you!" she added, turning to give Draco a stern look, that reminded him instantly of Professor McGonagall, causing him to obey immediately.

"Why are you defending him?" Harry asked, suspecting that there was something that Hermione hadn't gotten around to explaining.

"Molly, Arthur. Could you please let Draco in and I'll explain everything over a cup of tea," Hermione said, sighing. This really was a lot of drama that she could do without, as it didn't get them anywhere near closer to finding her friend.

Had anyone ever told the Weasleys that they would be having tea with a Malfoy sitting at their kitchen table, they would have laughed. Admittedly, it was the most unusual sight.

"Come on, then. Out with it!" Ron tried to get Hermione started on the explanations she clearly owed all of them.

Ginny had put her hand over Hermione's on the table and gently squeezed it, in an attempt to keep the brunette witch calm and collected. It earned her a warm smile.

"George, you remember when I told you that I had someone inform me about Valerie being watched." Hermione asked and George nodded in response.

"You're stalling, Hermione." Harry stated.

"Yes, well. Sorry. Draco came to me with all sorts of information. I'm not dumb enough to blindly trust him, but he seems to be on a mission to prove himself to me." Hermione explained.

Draco snorted, making a dismissive hand gesture.

"So far all of his information has turned out to be true. So I think, I can safely assume that whatever he has come to tell us now is true as well." Hermione concluded and looked at Draco expectantly.

"So you're saying we're supposed to rely on this cunning little snake for finding Valerie? You're actually saying that he, who tried to kill Dumbledore and became a Death Eater to impress Voldemort is our best chance of getting her back? We're talking about your best friend here, Hermione. You trust him with her life?" George had talked himself into a rage.

"No George, you're not listening. I said that I'm willing to give Draco a chance. I'm willing to listen to the man who couldn't kill Dumbledore and in the end turned on Voldemort and fought for us. I obviously don't trust him with Valeries life." Hermione explained calmly, "or have you seen me fall into his arms as if he were a knight in shining armour begging him to bring her home safely," Hermione added sardonically. Draco blushed.

"Ahem. Well, thanks, Hermione," he said before someone else could unleash their opinion of him and continued quickly, "I've come because I've finally got some good information, Hermione. Father has summoned me to this mansion of his and even though I couldn't get him to confirm it or give me any details, I know that Valerie is there and alive. And I know that the mansion is unplottable. Only father, his secret keeper, and now I, know where it is."

"How do you know she is there, when Lucius didn't tell you?" Hermione enquired.

"Let's just say, Valerie really has a vast vocabulary at her disposal when she wants to convey her discontent over something, aided only by the sheer volume of her voice," Draco smiled, clearly content with himself for bringing useful information.

_She must be dead afraid of what is going on around her, if she is bringing out the colourful vocabulary. Merlin, Valerie, I'm trying. I really am. I'll find you._

Hermione was pulled out of her thoughts when Ginny posed the obvious question, "So where is this mansion, and how do we get in?"

"You can't. It's unplottable, remember?" Draco answered.

"So what do you suggest instead? I think I've already told you that I don't trust you with her life," Hermione repeated her earlier statement.

"You will have to," Draco admitted, gritting his teeth, "If I tell you where the mansion is, father will know who told you and what then? What if you won't be able to get her out? What if he gets away? He'll have me killed and I won't be any use to you dead, now will I?"

Hermione contemplated his words, as did everyone else it seemed.

"There has to be a way, Draco." Harry said, "I understand your predicament. But what if you blame this other person? I'm sure he will believe you over one of his lackeys!"

Draco shook his head, "I'm afraid you're wrong. He doesn't trust me. He just needs me, because I'm actually allowed to move around in public without being arrested."

Hermione had grown quiet. She could feel Ginny rubbing her back soothingly, but it didn't help. She felt her anger rise and then she exploded. Again.

"Draco, are you seriously telling me that you came here tonight to tell me that you know where my best friend is but that you won't tell me?" Hermione yelled, now standing and towering over a still sitting Draco, who at the onslaught tried to scramble to his feet.

"I…You…I mean…," he stuttered helplessly.

Hermione whipped out her wand and aimed it at the Slytherin's throat. To Draco this situation felt all too familiar, but this time he would see her fist coming and duck, should it be necessary.

"Hermione…please," he kept stuttering.

"You foul loathsome evil little cockroach!" Hermione began again, "I want you to tell me right now, where this mansion is. I want you to side along apparate me there and I dare anyone to stand in my way!"

"Hermione, if you don't want to be Lucius' neighbour in Azkaban, you better not just waltz in there and stupefy him. You know better than I what it takes to turn an accusation into a legal sentence that sticks. We need Aurors to apprehend him. And I won't let you march onto his turf alone, anyway." Harry tried to get his best friend back to her regular plane of logical thinking.

It seemed to work, as she lowered her wand and sat back down, motioning for Draco to do the same.

"So what would you do, Harry?" Ginny asked.

"I say, Ron and I need to be there to make it an official arrest. Otherwise it's just Hermione breaking and entering," Harry explained.

"If we all go, there is no way Lucius can escape!" George chimed in.

"Yes he can! Listen to me, as soon as you set foot on the property the alarms will go off. Father, who by the way is the only one who can apparate there, will be gone instantly. The only one who won't set off an alarm is Hermione, since this is all a trap for her," Draco elaborated on his father's plan.

"He wants me to go there?" Hermione said, giving the Slytherin a distrustful look.

"Yes. He knows that his demands will not be met, but he wants you to suffer for putting him behind bars and that's why he is trying to bait you with the whole hostage situation," Draco explained.

Hermione grew silent again, obviously thinking. Anyone could see that she was coming up with something crazy.

"No, Hermione. _Just no_. I won't let you do this!" Ginny's voice grew louder, emphasising her feelings towards any plan Hermione would come up with.

"Ginny, I have to. Valerie is scared to death, hiding behind her encyclopaedic knowledge of expletives. I need to get to her," Hermione argued.

"Hermione, don't be daft. You don't believe, he'll keep her alive for a second, once he has you?" Ron piped up.

"No, he won't. You're right," Hermione said weakly, acknowledging the truth to Ron's statement.

Suddenly, Draco winced and held his left forearm in pain. His face was screwed up and he seemed to contemplate screaming loudly. "It's father. He's summoning me. I've got to go," he pressed out between clenched teeth.

"Alright, go. But come back as soon as you can, with more information. At please, try and get Valerie a message. Let her know, we're working on a plan." Hermione pleaded.

Draco just nodded and with an almost silent pop he was gone.

The room was silent. It was unbearable. Hermione felt tears burning in her eyes. She was beyond exhausted, she was desperate and at her wits end. She felt Ginny gently wipe away the tears and hold her tighter, but it didn't help. She felt more vulnerable than ever before. She realised that Malfoy had her exactly where he had wanted her: Helplessly watching from the sidelines. So she did the only thing that seemed logical to her now, she turned her head and sobbed into Ginny's shoulder.

Ginny wrapped the brunette witch into her arms and slowly stroked her hair. Her elaborate hairdo had mostly fallen apart by now and Ginny began to carefully pick the pins out of Hermione's hair with one hand, "There, there. I know it probably won't work, but what do you say if we all tried to catch some sleep. We are all exhausted and there is not much we can do until Draco comes back. It's awful this helplessness, but we're no good to Valerie if we can't fight because we're too weary to hold a wand."

The others around the table nodded and a yawn escaped from Arthurs lips, " I agree. We'll come up with a plan tomorrow. I don't know about you, but I think Draco really tried. I think we should try and give him a chance to find some information."

"I trust you can all find spare beds to sleep in. I'm too tired to get them ready for you," Molly said and stumbled towards the stairs. The rest followed slowly.

Only Ginny stayed seated, holding a crying Hermione. It was heart-breaking to watch and feel her body quiver and quake with every sob that wracked her body.

"Love…? Hermione? Let's go upstairs. Let's get to bed and try to get some rest, ok?" Ginny tentatively tried to get through to the mess that was Hermione.

After a while she felt Hermione sit up. Her eyes were red and swollen, her nose was running and her face was wet with tears. "OK, let's go to bed," Hermione said, defeat filling her voice like never before.

"Come back, you coward! I want to keep shouting at you! Where have you gone? Can't take verbal abuse from a woman?" Valerie had screamed herself hoarse over the last few hours. But she wasn't done. She was about to unpack some of her favourite insults, when suddenly the door to her windowless chamber burst open.

The same man that had been bringing her water and food (which of course, she had refused) stood in the doorway, brandishing his wand menacingly.

"You've done it! Congratulations! Your shouting has earned me the right to silence you," he said and evil smile playing on his lips. He took a few steps in Valerie's direction and she instinctively retreated until she felt a cold hard wall against her back. Her eyes widened in fear.

"Not so quick with the cursing anymore now, are we?" he continued, clearly enjoying himself. Valerie contemplated her chances of overpowering the man, but as he was half a head taller and looked quite muscular, she didn't fancy her chances much. And there was the insignificant fact that he wasn't holding this wooden stick because it was Halloween. He kept walking until he had reached her, causing Valerie to try and press further into the wall, hoping against hope that he would go away and leave her alone. He was so close, she could feel his breath on her face.

"You should know that I am actually not explicitly forbidden to hurt you. I'm not allowed to either, but I'm sure Master Malfoy won't care about a little scratch here or there. So either you shut up now or I will make you!" the wizard threatened.

Valerie summoned all the courage she could muster and spat at him, delighted to see that it landed right in the face. It made him angry, she could see that, but at least he took a step back.

"You dirty little Muggle," he roared and backhanded her across the face, leaving a bloody trace where his ring had split open her cheek. Valerie fought to keep standing and bit back a scream. The pain was excruciating. Defiantly she stood and looked him in the eyes. She felt the blood trickle down her face but kept her eyes trained on the imposing figure in front of her.

"My, aren't we brave today. No wonder you're shacking up with a bunch of Gryffindors!" he laughed menacingly.

Valerie wanted to say something but as soon as she moved her jaw a blinding pain shot right through her brain. He had broken her jaw.

"Can't speak? What a pity," the man said, grinning sardonically.

Tears were clouding Valerie's sight but she was determined not to let him see her cry. The pain in her jaw was overwhelming and she thought she might be sick or faint. She willed herself to keep standing and stared at him, less defiant now, praying to whichever God was available that Hermione would be coming for her.

"What is going on here?" Draco Malfoy said in his most authoritative voice. He took a few strides into the small room. Three people was really was the limit in here. There was a bed, and two doors. One led to the hall from which Draco had come in and the other one led to an even smaller bathroom with a toilet and a sink.

Valerie recognised Draco from his first visit to her old flat, but she also knew he was the son of her captor and decided to wait and see what would happen next.

"What have you done to her, Danvers?" Draco demanded to know.

"I have followed my masters orders to shut up our guest. The constant shouting was giving him a headache," the man called Danvers replied, omitting the fact of how he had shut Valerie up.

Valerie was having trouble keeping on her feet and put her hands behind her back against the wall to steady herself. She hoped they wouldn't notice. The last thing she wanted was to faint and expose herself on yet another level of vulnerability.

"Leave us." Draco sneered, but Danvers didn't move.

"I have strict orders not to let her out of my sight after shutting her up," he replied unsure of what to do.

"Danvers, do I need to remind you of who I am?" Draco drawled with more force, saying it in a way that he felt would make his father proud. That did the trick. Danvers bowed and left. He closed the door behind him.

"Are you ok?" Draco whispered in his lowest voice and took a step closer.

Valerie backed away but kept one hand on the wall to steady herself.

"Look, I have a message from Hermione. She said that she's working on a plan and that you don't need to worry. She'll come for you." Draco whispered hurriedly to calm down the frightened Muggle in front of him.

Valerie didn't respond. She didn't trust him. This had to be a trap. He was trying to gain her trust.

"I'm assuming, you're trying to figure out whether you can trust me or not? Hermione doesn't trust me. But she relies on me. Are you in pain?" he enquired when he saw the angry gash on Valerie's cheek. She nodded.

Draco took out his wand and mumbled something under his breath. The cut disappeared, but her jaw was still raging with pain.

"There, all better," Draco said confidently.

Valerie just shook her head and pointed to her jaw. She wouldn't trust him and she didn't believe him, but he had tried to heal her once, maybe he would do it again.

"He broke your jaw?" Draco asked with a trace of panic in his voice, "I don't know the spell for that! I'm so sorry. Oh Merlin, Hermione is going to kill me when she finds out about this. You will have to grit your teeth and wait for a mediwizard. No, don't grit your teeth. Oh Merlin, I'm done. She's going to kill me," Draco seemed genuinely worried and Valerie was almost inclined to believe his earlier statement about working with Hermione.

"I will try and get you something for the pain as soon as possible. Please believe me, I'm truly sorry, that I can't help you," Draco promised and then turned to leave.

As soon as he was gone Valerie sat down on the old bed and let her tears fall. She was alone and helpless. She couldn't scream for help, not that she was of the impression that anyone would hear her. All she could do was wait. Defeated, she buried her face in her hands and wept.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: **Hi everyone! A new chapter for you!

Thanks to kyresar for reading it and finding a lot of stupid typos (yes, I'm still embarrassed about that!).

And - credit where credit is due - thanks to my wife for having a wonderfully funny idea. I'm not going to spoiler you but one object that Valerie uses in this chapter was her idea. You can take guesses in the reviews. Fight for honour, my friends! There is no other price, sadly.

Anyway, have fun reading and let me know what you think!

**Chapter 14**

After a night of fitful sleep, Hermione woke early on Saturday morning. Her eyes felt like they were burning in their sockets.

But Hermione didn't mind. She felt it was only fair to be in pain after letting her best friend be kidnapped while going on a date with her girlfriend. _Her girlfriend_, Hermione pondered.

Ginny was hugging her from behind, one arm draped over her protectively. Hermione had never felt safer.

Suddenly, she felt a kind of panic rising in her. She took Ginny's arm and untangled herself before quickly getting up and going to the bathroom. She didn't deserve to feel safe right now. She had no right to a warm and peaceful bed when her best friend was alone, afraid and probably lying uncomfortably on a cold hard stone floor in the dungeons of Malfoy's manor.

Relishing the cold on her feet from the tiled floor Hermione got her toothbrush and sat down, leaning against the cold wall. She started to shiver a little, her thin t-shirt being no protection against the cold tiles.

Hermione set her jaw and forced her body to endure the uncomfortable cold.

_Fair's fair._

Hermione finished brushing her teeth and then splashed her face with cold water before looking into the mirror.

_At least I look the way I feel._

"Hermione?" Ginny mumbled while waking up, "are you OK in there?"

Hermione didn't answer, hoping Ginny would fall back asleep, but then she heard her get up and gingerly open the bathroom door.

"Hey love, I woke up and you were gone," Ginny explained.

"Couldn't sleep any longer," Hermione muttered under her breath, looking at Ginny via the mirror.

Ginny closed the distance between them and put her hand between Hermione's shoulder blades softly stroking her with her thumb.

Hermione shrugged the arm away and stepped out of the bathroom, "Sorry, Gin. Not now…I can't," she said quickly and went to get her clothes for the day.

Hermione heard the ginger witch following her and could practically see the confused look with the back of her head.

"Hermione, what's going on? Did I do something wrong?" Ginny asked bluntly, opting for the direct route.

Hermione turned around, holding the clothes she had picked out for the day and looked at her girlfriend. Worry lined her face and obviously not knowing what to do with her hands, Ginny just let them hang at her sides and stood there, waiting for Hermione to explain the rejection.

"Ginny, really. It's nothing. I just don't feel like cuddling now. I'll just quickly get dressed and then grab a bite to eat," Hermione said, hoping Ginny would focus on the food part of her answer.

She walked past Ginny back into the bathroom and closed the door. Now more than ever, Hermione hated the fact that the door didn't close properly.

She hadn't even put down her pile of fresh clothes when Ginny walked in after her.

She looked astonishingly calm and Hermione immediately felt guilty for shutting her out and shoving her away emotionally.

"What's going on?" Ginny whispered softly, stepping closer.

Hermione wanted to give in and just hug Ginny and be held by her, but as soon as those thoughts entered her mind, a flash of guilt shot through her. Valerie was Merlin knows where because of her wanting a date.

"Nothing, Gin. Would you just back off, for God's sake. It was a tough night, alright," Hermione shrugged away Ginny's advances again.

She immediately regretted her sharp tone when she saw the hurt look on Ginny's face before the redhead retreated and mumbled something about the kitchen and breakfast.

_Wonderful, Granger, aren't we efficient today. Not even up for half an hour and already you have punished yourself for not being clairvoyant enough, growled at your girlfriend twice and managed to hurt her enough to make her retreat. Just bloody wonderful. Keep it up and by the end of the day you'll have all of Britain to yourself._

Hermione inwardly groaned at her own inability to keep it together, exhaling loudly before actually getting dressed for the day.

When she arrived in the kitchen Hermione saw that everyone was already up. Molly was busying herself with the dishes. Arthur was unsuccessfully trying to distract himself with the newspaper. George was cradling a cup of coffee seeking solace or wisdom in the black and probably cold liquid. Harry and Ron were pushing their eggs around on their plates, looking at each other from time to time as if to check whether the other one had come up with a solution to their problem and just hadn't said anything yet.

Ginny didn't even pretend to eat. She sat at the table, her food untouched before her. Her head hung low, her face hidden by a curtain of long silky hair. Hermione felt her heart constrict in her chest. It was her fault that the lovely redhead looked so dejected.

Hermione sat down next to Ginny and noticed the younger witch flinch away almost unperceptively.

"Ginny?" Hermione whispered. When there was no reaction she tried again, "Gin, I'm sorry. Can we go outside and talk for a minute? Please." Hermione put Ginny's hair behind her ear to reveal her girlfriend's face.

Ginny didn't nod, she just got up and walked outside. Hermione followed.

When they arrived at the shed Ginny turned around abruptly. Hermione could see that there was a lot going on within the redhead's mind that wanted out but was held back for various reasons.

"Ginny, I'm sorry for snapping at you. It was very unfair. I'm not making excuses but I would like to explain," Hermione began and took a step towards the younger witch.

"Hermione, I understand. You don't have to explain anything. I understand what is going on. It just hurt nonetheless, that's all," Ginny said, embracing the brunette witch.

"I'm so sorry, Gin," Hermione repeated her apology, "I feel so undeserving of all your support and help. I know it's stupid, but I feel responsible for Valerie's absence and I feel so helpless and…and I just hope she's alright." Hermione said. Her throat felt sore and tears were streaming down her face again.

_Godsdammit, Granger! Keep it together or are you trying to compete with the average precipitation in England?_

"We'll get her back. Do you hear me?" Ginny pulled away to arms length and looked Hermione straight in the eyes, "I trust Draco as far as I can throw him, but I know he is very much afraid of what you might do to him if something happened to Val. He'll do his damnedest to help us."

Suddenly, Ginny's stomach growled loudly causing both the witches to chuckle, "Seems like I'm not the only one growling at you this morning. Come on then, I don't want you to starve," Hermione said while leading Ginny back into the kitchen.

The mood was still rotten but at least Hermione had made up with Ginny.

They were done with breakfast and Arthur had read the same article about fifteen times by now and he still didn't know who had enchanted the chairs at Habitat to dance a jig.

Molly was about to be handed the medal for the cleanest kitchen sink in all of Britain and George was still training to be Hogwarts' next Divination teacher, cradling that same cup of coffee; as untouched as ever.

Ron and Harry had finished their breakfast and were now just sitting around trying to will their brains to come up with a solution.

By noon, Ginny had all of her old brooms polished and clipped to perfection. The wood was so shiny you could almost see your own reflection in it.

Hermione had summoned her books from her room but she could have just as well read the phone book. There was no way she was able to concentrate on 'The most notorious wizards of the 12th century until today'. Secretly, she had hoped for a title like 'How to save your Muggle friend from an evil wizard in three easy steps', but the magical community had never been much in the way of self-help books.

Slowly but surely, they were all going mad from the waiting.

"We should talk about a time frame for Malfoy to arrive. When do we stop hoping he'll show up and try to take action ourselves?" Ron asked.

"And what would that action be, Ron?" Harry wondered aloud.

"I don't know, mate, but I don't want to sit here until Sunday evening, then shrug my shoulders and say, 'well, it's not our fault Malfoy never showed up.' You know?" Ron quipped.

The mood in the room was getting worse by the minute.

"Should we try to contact him?" Ginny suggested.

"No. It's too risky. We'll give him three more hours. Then we'll do something," Hermione decided.

"What? What will we do?" Harry asked.

"I don't know Harry. We have three hours to come up with something!" Hermione answered irritably. To say she was on edge was like calling Hogwarts a magical garden shed.

"We'll just have to improvise a bit," Ron said in an attempt to calm everyone down.

Valerie had barely gotten any sleep. She was in so much pain, she could hardly think. She had to get out of here somehow.

She was lying on the bed when she heard footsteps approaching her hopefully temporary accommodation.

She panicked. She was thirsty and hungry, but her jaw hurt so much she didn't think she'd be able to even drink anything.

The door was opened and someone put a tray on the floor. She didn't move, showing her guard that she wasn't interested in the food.

"You'll get hungry eventually," Danvers predicted.

He was gone and the door locked again, when Valerie climbed out of the bed and inspected the sandwich and tea. She lifted the upper slice of bread to see what kind of sandwich it was and found salad, tomatoes and a tiny vial with a misty purple liquid in it that someone had obviously smuggled in there for her.

Maybe it was Draco and this was something for her jaw? Valerie unstoppered the tiny vial and sniffed. Nothing. There was no smell at all.

After a bit of back and forth, she decided that someone smuggled this vial to her, so it probably wasn't poison. If they intended to kill her, they could have just used a spell.

She put the vial to her lips and swallowed. Almost immediately the pain radiating from her jaw was gone.

Valerie couldn't believe it. This was wonderful.

Since she didn't know how long the effect of the potion would last, she went to work immediately.

She had come up with a plan for her escape. All she needed was something hard to hit Danvers over the head with.

She looked under the bed and even tried to take apart the bedframe; all to no avail. There was nothing. Not even the tiniest bit of wood or metal. All she found in the overhead cabinet was some weed killer and a bunch of age old provisions. But she could hardly sugar coat Danvers to death.

Then she started scanning the uncomfortably small bathroom for something she might use. Nothing.

No wait, the toilet seat! Inspiration struck. And although she was slightly uncomfortable with the idea she decided that beggars couldn't be choosers and set to work. With a coin luckily dug out of her jeans' pocket she had a go at the screws in the toilet seat.

Finally, the first screw came off and even though the coin she was using was all bent out of shape by now she got the other screw off pretty easily.

Satisfied with her effort she swung the toilet seat around a bit to feel its weight and get used to the strange motion.

Now all she had to do was hide in the tiny bathroom when Danvers came back in and hit him over the head from behind. The only problem was that he would immediately know where she was, when he came into an obviously empty bedroom. A distraction was clearly needed.

At first she thought of her phone, but she knew that the battery was as flat.

Then she remembered something and frantically started to search the cabinet containing the provisions. She took out the half empty bottle of weed killer. Apparently, wizards didn't have a spell for everything. Or they had a Muggle staff. Valerie kept looking and found some salt and the sugar she had seen earlier.

Valerie had only a very faint memory of how to do what she was planning, but she had to give it a shot.

Taking the little bowl for the soap from the sink, she poured some salt and sugar into it. She put it on the floor at the far end of the door, then filled it up with the weed killer.

Now came the hard part. If it worked, she didn't want to be too close. She took out the battery of her phone and stepped on it to crack it open. When she was satisfied with the level of destruction she carefully balanced the battery on the edge of the bowl, allowing the battery acid to drip into the mixture in the bowl.

She quickly hid in the bathroom and waited, toilet seat in her hand.

Then everything happened so fast that Valerie couldn't even properly retell the story later. It was all a blur.

The crazy mixture of chemicals in the bowl exploded with a loud bang.

The door flew open and Danvers raced into the room, looking for source of the unfamiliar noise. Valerie jumped out of her hiding spot and hit him over the head with the toilet seat. He saw it coming however and protected himself with his arm. The toilet seat crashed to the floor and Danvers caught Valeries arms with his hands.

"You think you can win, Muggle?" he laughed arrogantly.

Valerie struggled to free her arms, when suddenly, after a loud thwack, Danvers sank to the floor. Before Valerie stood Draco, holding the toilet seat, looking grim and a bit ridiculous.

"Thanks," Valerie whispered, still exhausted from her joust with Danvers and not wanting to move her jaw more than necessary.

"There isn't much time. Did you drink the potion in the sandwich?" Draco enquired and Valerie nodded in response.

"Good. Now listen carefully, you have to be quick. Follow the hallway to the kitchen and then turn left. There is another hallway. Follow that and you should get to a door that will lead you outside. Turn left again and run. Keep running. Don't stop until you see the park. Try to find somewhere to hide. And here, take this ring. Don't lose it. Hermione might need it to find you. Now go. Go!" Draco explained hurriedly and shoved her out of the bedroom.

Valerie didn't look back. She followed his instructions to the letter and ran.

Draco sat down on the bed and for the first time realised that he had knocked out his father's Lieutenant with a toilet seat. He looked at the crumpled body on the floor and decided to wait a bit longer before reporting Valerie's escape. She could use the head start.

Several minutes later Draco nudged Danvers with his foot, "Hey! Danvers, wake up! Explain to me what happened here! Danvers, get UP!"

The sorry looking Death Eater groaned and slowly got to his feet, looking around at the empty room. When he realised that Valerie was gone his eyes widened in fear, "I…She…I mean, boom. I don't know…where…bloody Muggle!" he stuttered, rubbing the spot where the toilet seat had connected with the back of his head, and winced.

"Come with me," Draco drawled and grabbed Danvers by his robe, dragging him upstairs to his father.

Draco shoved Danvers into the room in front of Lucius and angrily snarled, "And now you explain how a weedy little Muggle girl overpowered you, knocked you out and escaped!"

"What?" Lucius shouted, "What do you mean by the Muggle escaped?"

"I…was…I mean, I'm sorry. I don't know what happened," Danvers babbled, not knowing what to say.

"I'll tell you exactly what happened," Draco sneered, "You were tricked by a Muggle and she hit you over the head with a toilet seat, knocking you out. A Muggle knocked you out with a toilet seat, Danvers!"

Lucius face was turning a never before seen shade of crimson, "Get out of my sight, Danvers, before I kill you myself," he roared, spit flying from his mouth, "Draco, go and get her back. Find her, I don't care how and I don't care if she's alive. If she managed to leave the building she knows where it is and we can't risk her telling anyone."

Draco bowed and supressed a smile. This was going too well.

Nobody heard Draco's silent pop when he arrived, but they all jumped out of their seats when he knocked on and entered through the door into the kitchen of the Burrow.

"How is she? Is she alright? Could you give her a message? Do you have more information?" Hermione asked like a rapid-fire machine gun.

"Hermione, calm down. Valerie escaped. She's on the run and I'm supposed to get her back to my father, dead or alive. We don't have much time. Father isn't a very patient man." Draco explained quickly.

"She escaped? Wasn't she guarded?" George wondered.

"Valerie certainly is very creative." Draco answered honestly, "but we need to find her before Father grows impatient enough to employ someone else to find her. Hermione do you know any locating spells?"

"Yes, but I don't see how they could work. I can only trace a magical object of a person with another magical object of that same person. And Valerie doesn't own anything magical," Hermione explained, a bit hopeless.

"I gave her my ring," Draco said, quite proud of himself.

"Oh, you're brilliant!" Hermione exclaimed and hugged the blond man briefly before realising what she was doing. She was just so relieved about it all. She could see Ginny eyeing her suspiciously from the side, but decided to ignore her in favour of getting Valerie back.

"Alright, can you apparate us to somewhere near the place, so we can start looking for Valerie?" George asked.

"There is a park nearby, I told Valerie to run there. I can apparate us. I hope there won't be too many Muggles around though," Draco said.

Suddenly, everyone grabbed hold of Draco and nodded.

"We're ready, Malfoy. Let's go!" Harry said, uncomfortably holding onto the blond man's belt.

With a loud crack they arrived in a somewhat hidden corner of the park.

Immediately, Hermione sprung into action, "Draco, do you have another ring or some other magical item on your person?"

Draco nodded and reached behind the back of his neck to unclasp a delicate silver necklace with a beautiful green emerald pendant that he had apparently been hiding underneath his black dress shirt. Ron snickered, "Oy, where did you get that from then?"

"It was a present from my mother if you want to know, Weasel!" Draco snapped at Ron, while handing the necklace to Hermione.

She quickly checked for any Muggles that might be watching the unusual spectacle that they were presenting before taking out her wand, "Quaereo Pertinens," she said and pointed her wand at the necklace. Immediately, the necklace began to pull in one direction and Hermione just had to follow it. So off they went, everyone walking after Hermione.

The park seemed quite big and while they were walking Draco seemed to have something on his mind that he couldn't quite get out.

"Do you want to say something?" Ginny asked surly.

"Erm, well, yes actually. There is something that I haven't told you yet," Draco began and Hermione stopped dead in her tracks, ignoring the pull from the necklace.

She turned around and glowered dangerously at the uncomfortable looking Slytherin, "Spit it out!"

"Well, you see. Valerie was shouting so loud that Father gave her guard permission to silence her. I'm sure he meant with a spell, but Danvers, well you see, he's a bit of a brute and he broke her jaw instead," Draco explained.

Molly gasped and Ginny automatically lifted her hand to her own jaw, remembering an especially well aimed bludger. Hermione narrowed her eyes dangerously, expecting Draco to continue his story.

"I healed a nasty gash on her cheek from his ring! But I, well, I never paid much attention to healing spells. I…she…I mean, her jaw…I couldn't. It's still broken and it looks rather ghastly. All blue and purple," Draco finished his confession.

Hermione willed herself not to explode in the middle of a park. Their funny looking group was already getting some unwanted attention by a bunch of picnicking Muggles, she didn't need to spike their interest even more. So, very calmly, Hermione turned around and followed the pull of the necklace again.

They zigzagged around the park for a couple of minutes before they came to a halt in front of a group of three trees.

"Are you sure the spell worked?" Ron enquired doubtfully.

"I thought I'd done everything right." Hermione answered, obviously confused by the lack of results.

All of a sudden, Ginny pulled George to one of the trees, "Give me a lift, will you?" And a moment later Ginny was climbing up the tree, through the narrow weave of branches and leaves until it was hard to see her from below.

"What do you see, Ginny?" Arthur called up.

"Nothing yet, she might be on another tree, though," Ginny answered.

Hermione pulled out her wand again and pointed it upwards, "Homenum Revelio."

She waited for a moment and then called up into the tree, "Ginny, she's on the other tree. Can you get there from where you are?

"Sure. Hold on," Ginny answered and the group looked up to see the leaves rustle, holding onto their branches in distress. "Got her!" Ginny called down from her tree, "She's unconscious. I'll float her down."

Not a moment later, Valeries body came into view and Molly immediately came forward to tend to the poor injured girl.

Her face was swollen on one side and, as Draco had warned them, looked awfully purple around her jaw.

Hermione held Valerie and stroked her hair, while Molly assessed her injury, "It seems to me that it's only cracked and not fully broken. I think I can heal it. We don't need to go to St. Mungo's. But we should do it at the Burrow and not here in plain sight.

Hermione flicked her wand again and then said, "Alright, I've put a Disillusionment Charm on her. We can just carry her back to that spot we arrived at and apparate from there. Ginny, if you want you can apparate from up there, no one can see you anyway."

They heard a cracking sound and knew that Ginny had done as suggested.

"I'll carry her. We can't have anyone here seeing a wand. I'd rather look like I'm walking funny than break the Statute of Secrecy," George explained and carefully picked up Valerie.

The odd looking procession made its way back to their apparition point before vanishing back to the Burrow.

When they arrived Ginny had already put a couple of pillows and a blanket on the sitting room couch. George carefully put Valerie down and Molly set to work, muttering spells and flicking her wand.

Soon enough the angry bruises were gone and Molly went to the kitchen to make them all some tea.

Hermione sat down at Valerie's side and carefully tried to wake the young woman,

"Val, hey, wake up. You're home. You're safe."

Slowly, Valerie began to stir and opened her eyes. She carefully lifted her hand to her jaw and looked around the room. She sat up to get a better view of all the people staring at her.

When her eyes found Draco, she smiled and whispered hoarsely, "Thank you." It was then she realised that her jaw didn't hurt when speaking, "Did you give me another one of those purple thingamajigs? They are bloody awesome!"

Draco shook his head and Hermione spoke up, "We found you unconscious in a tree in that park. Molly healed you. This injury looked really nasty but it seems you're fine now. Do you want to tell us how you escaped?"

Molly came back with a tray full of cups and a kettle of tea. Everyone found somewhere to sit and Valerie made room on the couch for Hermione and Ginny.

"There isn't much to tell, really. I literally MacGyver'd my way out of that tiny bedroom and fled. Draco helped," she explained, earning a room full of confused looks.

"MacGuywhat?" Arthur asked, intrigued by the new Muggle word.

"It's an old TV series. They broadcast reruns all the time. Very educational apparently. No? Hermione? No one? Nevermind," Valerie chuckled, "I distracted this Danvers bloke with a little home made explosion – Hermione, please remind me to get a new phone – and tried to hit him over the head with a toilet seat I had undone previously. But it didn't work and while I was struggling to get free, Draco came in and knocked the git out with the toilet seat. He told me where to run and I did. When I reached the park, my jaw started hurting again. The purple pain potion didn't last very long, but long enough for me to climb up into one of those trees. Then I tried to invoke my inner Katniss and made sure I won't fall out of that tree before I fainted. That's all, really. And my parents always told me that watching TV wouldn't teach me anything. Oh, and thank you, Molly, for taking care of my jaw. And thanks everyone for finding me and getting me home." Valerie got up and gave Draco a big hug, taking everyone by surprise, "Thanks. I owe you my life." She gave him a friendly peck on the cheek before retreating back to the couch.

Draco blushed at the unexpected display of affection and George turned livid. "Can you please quit kissing the Slytherin snake. I carried you through the whole park looking like an idiot because you were hidden from Muggle eyes and you go and thank _him_ for saving your life?" George spat.

"Oh, and who knocked out the guard and told her where to run? Who gave her the pain potion and a head start? Who came here to let you know she had escaped? Who was that, you petty little cave-wizard?" Draco shot back, getting out of his seat. George sprang to his feet and was about to shout back when Valerie interjected, "Shut it! Both of you. I'm flattered George, but keep your jealousy to yourself. It doesn't become you and it's completely unwarranted. And Draco, I already thanked you for helping me, there is no need to rub it under everyone's nose. They already know you're trying to turn your life around."

Draco and George sat back down and found a sudden interest in their shoes, both a bit embarrassed by their immature behaviour.

"As much as I love having you back, Valerie, there is another rather important thing we need to do. We can't sit here hoping Lucius doesn't notice that Draco isn't back yet. We need to come up with a plan to catch him or at least a story to buy us some time," Harry reminded them all.

And right on cue Draco's arm began to hurt again. "Val…erie. The. ring, please. I need it. Father will…notice," Draco pressed out between clenched teeth, clearly forcing himself not to apparate on the spot.

Quickly, Valerie took off the ring and handed it to the panting Slytherin.

And before Hermione could tell him what to tell Lucius Draco was gone from the Burrow.

"Well, let's hope he doesn't bollocks everything up!" Ron stated glumly and Molly whacked him over the back of his head.

"You will use no such language in my house, Ronald!" She reprimanded him.


	15. Chapter 15

_A/N: I know, I know. I'm sorry. But I hope this chapter makes up for the long pause. And don't worry, I've already written the next chapter and the one after that is half-written. Anyway,..._

_Thanks to kyresar for beta-ing and thanks to my wife for getting rid of a bunch of commas._

_And now, enjoy your chapter and let me know what you think in the reviews. Thanks._

**Chapter 15**

Hermione woke after what felt like barely an hour of sleep because she heard someone tip-toeing on the stairs, someone who didn't know that the third step creaked and the last one too: Valerie.

Slowly her brain kicked into gear. Why was her friend sneaking downstairs? Yawning, she decided to go after her. She had meant to talk to her and if her friend was awake anyway, why not do it now.

Hermione slid out of the bed, careful not to wake her girlfriend. She picked up her wand from the bedside table, silently left the room, and sneaked downstairs, carefully omitting the steps that creaked.

When she arrived downstairs, she saw Valerie standing in the kitchen, facing the front door, the handle already in her hand, but not moving an inch, obviously debating something in her head.

Hermione cleared her throat to let Valerie know she wasn't alone anymore.

"Hermione, what are you doing up? I thought everyone was fast asleep," Valerie said, turning around.

"What am I doing up? I'm not the one secretly sneaking downstairs to stare at doors!" Hermione answered, a smirk playing around her lips.

She walked over to her friend and led her to sit on one of the kitchen chairs, "So what were you discussing up there?" Hermione asked while softly poking Valerie's forehead with her index finger.

"I couldn't sleep. At least not without dreaming weird stuff. You know I'm not good with dealing with…stuff. Normally, I would just go out and meet someone, flirt a bit, and get incredibly drunk. You know the drill. Don't get me wrong, I love it here, I'm very fond of this wonderful family, but they have nothing in the way of a little dysfunctional trauma therapy," Valerie explained, giving Hermione an insecure smile, "I thought I might like to sit outside and watch the stars for a while or go for a short walk, but I wasn't sure about the risks. That's why you caught me hesitating at the door," Valerie finished, shrugging her shoulders apologetically.

"You know, I wanted to talk to you about all of this, even before you got kidnapped. You seemed like you were handling everything swimmingly: The revelation of a whole new world out there, then the threats, and now the kidnapping. I admire how strong you are," Hermione softly said, tucking her feet under her body for warmth.

"Are you kidding? I was so afraid; I thought I'd die in that room. I was afraid of the guy outside my door, I was afraid of being stuck in that room, I was afraid because I didn't have anything to distract me from my fear, and I was afraid I'd not be important enough to be rescued. I was afraid I'd be just one more person to simply vanish, like people did a couple of years ago, when you had that war. I was afraid I wouldn't even be on someone's list of vanished people. I was driving myself mad," Valerie whispered, a few tears running down her cheeks. Hermione knew this was a rare moment of honesty. Not that Valerie usually lied to her, but they rarely shared those candid moments where she wouldn't hide behind sarcasm or preferred to pretend everything was fine.

Hermione put her arm around her friend and Valerie leaned her head on the witch's shoulder, "Don't be silly. Did you really think we would've left you there? I was turning into a complete nutter because I didn't know how to get you out of there and because of my guilty conscience. Just ask Ginny. I don't think I would've been able to forgive myself had anything happened to you. I might be a bit wrapped up in my emotional world at the moment, but you're my best friend too!" Hermione tried to reassure her friend and squeezed her shoulder to make sure she understood.

They had always been very physical in their friendship. Not because they secretly felt an attraction for each other, but, simply, because Valerie just worked that way. Hermione, coming from a rather restricted environment, had always enjoyed the warm hugs of the Weasley family, and after her pulling away from Ginny, she had welcomed that physical side in Valerie even more.

"Don't worry. These are just my fears of insignificance coming out to play at night. I'll be fine in the morning. I just need to distract myself a bit and I thought the night sky would help, but your company is even better," Valerie said, and her cheeky grin returned to her face once more, "So tell me, how are things with you and Ginny? Shagged her yet?"

Hermione pulled away and playfully punched her in the arm," I can't believe you just said that!"

"Can't you, now? Because it's something I'd never ask, right?" Valerie continued to tease.

Hermione tried her best to keep looking scandalized by Valerie's question but couldn't, "Ah well, I should've expected that question sooner or later." She wrapped herself into a blanket she had found on the chair next to her and answered, "No, nothing has happened yet. I mean, apart from words and kisses. But we haven't…you know…yet."

"Oh my God, are you twelve? If you can't say it you're definitely not ready to do it!" Valerie found another opportunity to tease Hermione. Valerie knew that the brunette had a reputation of being a stuck up book worm. George had told her about it a few times. But Valerie also knew that Hermione had grown out of that quite a bit and found it only fair to tease her when she fell back into old habits.

"Oh shut up, you!" Hermione said in mock anger and playfully swatted Valerie's arm again.

"Why are you so interested in _my_ sex life anyway? What's going on between you and George?" Hermione diverted the conversation away from herself and Ginny.

She wasn't sure because there was hardly any light in the room, but it looked a lot like Valerie was blushing, "Nothing. Nothing at all. George and I are just friends," Valerie stammered.

"Of course, sure, right, uh huh…If you don't show me yours I won't show you mine!" Hermione smirked, amused by the sudden loss of cheek Valerie displayed.

"I fear that's going to be a short conversation. You don't have any juicy details and I have none either. Usually, I would have had him in my bed and moved on already, but he's different. He's not my usual kind of daily flavour," Valerie explained.

"Are you saying you actually fancy him?" Hermione asked. She couldn't believe it. In the years they'd known each other Valerie had only ever had one-night stands. Something about a bad breakup with an ex-girlfriend she never spoke much of.

"I don't know," the young photographer whispered.

"You don't have to know. Don't stress about it. But know this: George is a great bloke. He wouldn't hurt you." Hermione tried to reassure her friend, giving her shoulder another reassuring squeeze. Secretly, she was very happy that her friend had finally found someone she liked for more than just a quick shag. She had been hoping that one day she'd get over it all and find someone too.

Hermione yawned. The excitement of the last few weeks caught up to her, "I should probably go back to bed, and so should you!"

Valerie nodded, "Yes, you're probably right. I'll head up as well."

A few moments later Hermione was back under her blanket and cuddling up to Ginny who seemed to automatically wrap her arms around the brunette witch to spoon her. Hermione felt a warm fuzzy feeling spread through her body. This was where she felt safe and at home. Ginny's arms would always have that effect on her. But she could also feel the familiar tug of another feeling. Ginny's toned body pressing against hers made her skin tingle.

"You were gone," she heard the younger woman whisper, "I missed you."

"I was downstairs talking to Valerie," Hermione replied, "why are you awake?"

"I woke up because you were gone," Ginny replied and placed a kiss on Hermione's neck from behind. Hermione's breath caught in her throat at the unexpected contact. She felt Ginny smile against her skin.

"I'm glad you're back," Ginny breathed into Hermione's ear.

_Merlin, Gin, don't do that. I won't be able to catch any sleep if you keep doing that._

But Ginny didn't stop. She trailed soft kisses down from Hermione's ear to her neck and shoulder until the hem of her t-shirt blocked her access. Hermione softly moaned and turned to face her girlfriend. All her resolve to finally get some rest after the excitement of the last few weeks started to crumble.

"You have really soft skin," Ginny declared.

"Would you like to see more of it?" Hermione asked, not quite innocently. She was beyond waiting and taking it slow. All she cared about was giving in to what her body wanted.

Ginny grinned, but didn't answer; she just kept kissing her girlfriend.

Hermione broke the kiss and flashed Ginny the brightest smile, "I take that as a yes, then." Swiftly, she took off her t-shirt and tossed it to the side. When she lay back, she saw the redhead licking her lips at the sight she offered. "You are beautiful," she pronounced before leaning in to kiss the topless woman underneath her again.

Hermione moaned when she felt the weight of her girlfriend on top of her. She let her hands roam and slipped them under Ginny's pyjama top. She needed some skin contact and she wanted to see the redhead naked too. Hermione grabbed the hem of Ginny's pyjama top and quickly pulled it over her head. This was what she had been fantasizing about for two years. Ever since she had realised that Ginny was who she wanted to be with she had spend her nights dreaming about this.

She gasped at the sight of Ginny's naked upper body. Her arms and abs were toned from all the Quidditch and her small breasts looked perfectly round and soft. And particularly desirable. She had seen Ginny naked before and therefore technically knew how she looked, but this was altogether different. This time she was allowed to look, to enjoy, and to touch. She started feeling a bit nervous and insecure.

But Ginny's ministrations effectively shut down Hermione's mind; bit by bit she had to let her body take over. Hermione smiled. This was the kind of control she didn't mind losing.

She kept exploring Ginny's toned body with her fingers, not ever growing tired of the silky feel.

"You feel so good," she breathed as she ran her fingertips up and down Ginny's sides, "I don't want to stop."

Ginny ceased her kissing and looked at Hermione. The brightest witch of her age looked back and couldn't make head or tales of the look Ginny gave her.

"You don't have to stop. I don't want you to stop. You can have me," Ginny said, taking Hermione's hand, "I love you."

Hermione's heartbeat doubled. She had waited so long to hear those words. Bittersweet tears sprang to her eyes but she fought them back. She didn't want to cry over lost time. A strand of red hair hung loose and she tucked it behind Ginny's ear, never taking her eyes off the young woman in front of her. "I love you too," she said before capturing Ginny's lips with her own and pouring all her emotions into that kiss. All the love, all the passion and lust of that moment went into it. And she was sure Ginny was doing the same. They got lost in each other. Hands started roaming and fingers went walkabout.

Hermione could feel Ginny's breath quicken and then noticed her own heartbeat going faster.

She took charge and flipped them over. Ginny's eyes flew open and she gave Hermione a cheeky grin, "Quite assertive, are we?"

"I've waited two years for this. I'm done waiting," Hermione answered, running her hand through Ginny's silky red hair. Her lips found Ginny's collarbone and she started sucking the soft skin just below it.

Hermione heard Ginny draw in a sharp breath followed by a soft moan. She made a mental note to remember that spot.

"No more waiting," she heard the redhead mumble before she felt her squirm underneath her. She had found another particularly sensitive spot that made Ginny draw her nails down Hermione's back. Hermione rolled her eyes back in her head at the sensation.

_Merlin, this is even better than I thought it would be._

She closed her eyes and enjoyed the feel of the younger witch underneath her as she feverishly kissed every inch of skin she could find.

Hermione watched as Ginny's eyes grew darker with desire and guessed her own eyes showed the same.

She broke eye contact and sucked at that soft spot she had discovered earlier, eliciting hushed sounds from her girlfriend that she'd never in her best dreams imagined to turn her on so much. She kept kissing Ginny and let her lips wander until she reached her breasts and couldn't hold back any longer. She took one of the redhead's nipples into her mouth and gently sucked.

Ginny pressed against Hermione's body, moaning more loudly now. She ran her fingers through Hermione's hair and ran her other hand across her back.

The older witch couldn't help herself but moaned against Ginny's breast, which from the sounds of it drove the redhead even wilder.

While still sucking on one nipple, Hermione carefully massaged Ginny's other breast with her free hand. She couldn't tell if it was the movement of her second hand or the additional weight she had to put on the younger witch but Ginny seemed to positively brim with desire.

She stopped her tongue from playing with Ginny's nipple and moved up to play with her tongue instead. She still had her hand on Ginny's other breast which seemed to further the young witch's craving.

Hermione could feel Ginny's hips rolling into her own and couldn't keep silent. She moaned into her girlfriend's mouth.

Ginny used Hermione's distractedness to flip them over. The brunette witch gasped when she felt Ginny caressing her breasts, her soft tongue playing with one of her nipples while the other one was being teased by Ginny's long slender fingers.

"Oh Gods, Gin," she got out between moans of pleasure.

Ginny smiled a cheeky grin and began moving south, setting Hermione's skin on fire with every kiss.

Hermione ran her fingers through Ginny's hair and found she couldn't remember when she had closed her eyes.

She looked down and saw Ginny enjoying herself, grinning and softly biting the sensitive skin next to the brunette's hipbone. So, Ginny had discovered another one of her sensitive spots, and Hermione made that clear by moaning a bit more and quite a bit louder, too.

Hermione felt Ginny push down the waistband of her shorts and lifted her hips a bit. Ginny got the message and helped her girlfriend out of her pyjama shorts.

Suddenly, Hermione was very aware of her nakedness. And as Ginny took a moment to look at the naked woman before her, Hermione felt vulnerable and exposed but at the same time very turned on by the way Ginny let her eyes travel. She had never felt sexier or more desirable.

She sat up to kiss the woman kneeling in front of her, giving her undivided attention to Ginny's breasts and abs.

"Take those off. I want you naked. Now," Hermione ordered, tugging down Ginny's pyjama bottoms.

She looked at the gorgeous redhead in front of her. Flaming red hair, freckled pale skin that felt softer than anything she could come up with at that moment. The brunette lay back again, giving Ginny time to look at her and doing just the same herself. For a moment the room went silent and only the ragged breaths of the two women could be heard.

Then there was no going back.

Ginny was all over Hermione. The brightest witch of her age felt her brain shutting down, drowning in a sea of sensations. She wasn't able to tell where her body ended and where Ginny's began.

Realising that she was fighting an uphill battle, she finally gave in and let her body fully take control over her mind.

A guttural groan escaped her mouth when Ginny dragged her nails up Hermione's inner thigh, agonisingly slow.

She felt her legs begin to tremble, and her pussy was craving to be touched so much it almost hurt.

"Oh Ginny, please," she cried out. "Please," she added in a whisper, panting heavily.

Ginny moved up again and captured the brunette's lips in a heated kiss that did nothing for Hermione's need for oxygen or the throbbing between her legs. It made it even worse. It drove her insane.

She grabbed Ginny's hand and roughly put it on her breast, giving the redhead a clue to turn things up a notch and hoping to quench some of the need rising in her.

Ginny pinched Hermione's nipple to show her she had understood her message and then bit Hermione's lower lip when she heard her gasp. She was done holding back.

Ginny saw Hermione grab the headboard. The brunette witch was writhing underneath her, giving her her best come hither look. And of course, it worked.

Ginny kissed her way down Hermione's body in a straight line, the most direct way to where she wanted to be. When she arrived she started licking Hermione's clit. Slowly at first, but when she felt Hermione lift her hips to force more contact she picked up her pace. Sucking and licking and occasionally biting her girlfriend, making her moan out loudly. This was the single most sexy thing she had ever seen.

"Gods, Ginny. Yes. Right there," Hermione said, her voice coarse from panting.

Ginny had never heard her sound more alluring.

The redhead felt Hermione's hips buck and her legs shivering. She could feel her own arousal throbbing between her legs and thought she wouldn't be surprised if she came just from watching Hermione desperately grab at the sheets.

Ginny kept her fast paced rhythm until Hermione's breathing got even more ragged. She felt her body go rigid for a second and then the most wonderful sound filled her ears. Hermione screamed her name as she came, her whole body shaking and one hand threading through Ginny's flaming red hair, the other one holding on to the headboard. Ginny kept going, licking until Hermione seemed to come down from her orgasm.

Hermione sat up, grinning madly, taking Ginny's head in both her hands and pulling her towards her, kissing her full on the lips.

She could taste herself and she was still out of breath but she didn't care. All she wanted was to give the woman she loved a taste of what she had just given her.

She flipped them over and set out to find all of Ginny's sensitive spots. She felt Ginny writhing underneath her, begging for release.

"Hermione, don't make me wait any longer. I need you. I need you to make me come," Ginny got out between panting and moaning.

That was all Hermione had needed. She ran her fingers along Ginny's throbbing centre but felt that wasn't enough contact for either of them and let her tongue do the work, devouring the sweet and tangy taste that was her girlfriend.

Ginny was very vocal and it sounded like music to Hermione's ears. She felt Ginny come and dug her hands beneath the writhing redhead, grabbing her bum to keep her steady.

Never once stopping, she sucked and kissed Ginny through her orgasm until both of them lay next to each other, completely sated.

"I love you," Ginny said, lazily dragging her fingers across Hermione's body.

"I love you too," Hermione answered, smiling idiotically.

Slowly Hermione's brain started working again and she realised that the sun was starting to come up. The red light came in through Ginny's bedroom window virtually setting the room on fire and playing with the hue of her already flaming hair.

"This light really suits you. You look even more gorgeous," she said.

"So do you. I love what it does to your eyes," Ginny answered.

The two witches continued to lie there, not speaking much but simply enjoying each other's company, occasionally running their fingers over the other woman's body. After a bit they both dozed off though. After all, they hadn't gotten much sleep.

After a while, they were woken by the familiar clanking of pans and pots down in the kitchen and decided it was time to get up.

Before Ginny could actually open the door Hermione grabbed her hand and pulled her back for a kiss. "I'm so happy that I ran my mouth that evening in my flat. I can't believe we've been so dumb all these years. We lost so much time," Hermione said and played with a strand of Ginny's hair.

"We've got the rest of our lives to try and make up for our stupidity," Ginny answered, when suddenly her stomach growled.

Laughing, Hermione tucked that strand of hair behind Ginny's ear and said, "I think we should better get down before I'm the reason you're too weak to play Quidditch."

"What are you suggesting? I'll never be too weak to play Quidditch! I'll play until I'm 150!" Ginny answered, pretending to be offended but flashing Hermione a winning smile.

"Sure, Ginevra, sure. Whatever you say," Hermione answered and opened the door, "after you, my Quidditch star."

"That's better!" Ginny answered playfully, making a show to proceed through the door and down the stairs.

Suddenly, Hermione jumped up her back, laughing madly, making Ginny almost stumble before she carried her down the stairs piggyback.

Shrieking with laughter, they both arrived in the kitchen. Hermione jumped back down to stand on her own feet.

"My, my, someone's in a good mood this morning," Valerie said, giving them both the dirtiest look in her repertoire.

"Oh, shut up," Hermione countered and stuck out her tongue.

Mrs Weasley put two cups of steaming hot tea in front of the newly arrived witches and then sat down with the girls.

"Ginny, I don't expect you to know, but Hermione, maybe you could help me out on this one," Molly began while she gave the two women a sleepy look, "there is this spell, and I can't seem to remember it."

"What does it do?" Hermione asked, not quite sure where this was going.

"It makes rooms soundproof," Molly deadpanned and got up to do something in the kitchen, leaving the two women beet red in embarrassment.

"No juicy details, then?" Valerie said with a smug look at Hermione.


	16. Chapter 16

_A/N: Here we go, another chapter. I haven't written the next chapter yet, which means I'm not entirely qualified to say this but it kind of feels like this story is drawing nearer to the end. But don't worry, even if there won't be many more chapters for this story, I already have another one in my head that wants out :)_

_Anyway, thank you to everyone who helped edit this chapter and everyone who reviewed the last one. Please keep it up, I love getting feedback._

**Chapter 16**

The day was spent recuperating from the stress of the last few weeks. Harry and Ron left the Burrow after breakfast. It was clear that Harry still wasn't very comfortable being around Hermione and Ginny, especially after the night they had clearly and audibly spent together, and Ron being his best mate decided to cheer him up even though he obviously would have preferred to stay for his mother's cooking.

Hermione had wanted to apologize to Harry for forgetting to use a silencing spell but first he was too good at avoiding her and then he was gone before she could get to him. Ron of all people had sought her out and asked her to just give Harry some more time.

George spent the day at the Burrow too, and after sufficiently having made fun of the brightest witch of her age he moved on to explain Exploding Snap to Valerie.

Molly kept busy with knitting and listening to some music on the wireless, and Arthur had decided to spend some time in the shed, tinkering with a Muggle laptop he had gotten his hands on.

That left Hermione and Ginny to their own devices. "So, what would you like to do today?" Ginny asked cheerily.

"There is so much that I need to get done, but I feel way too exhausted to actually do any of it. The last few weeks are kind of getting to me," Hermione explained, taking the redhead's hand and drawing her closer, "also, the lack of sleep is making me want to just hang out and be lazy."

Ginny smiled at her, "I know what you mean. I should be practising but I really can't be bothered to do a proper training session." Ginny pulled Hermione in for a kiss, when suddenly they heard a small explosion from the sitting room, followed by a lot of cursing from Valerie. Laughing the two women decided to spend the day at the pond. They deserved a little downtime as much as everyone else.

After packing a couple of sandwiches, some towels and lots of sunscreen, they were on their way.

"Have you decided yet where you want to live? I mean, not that Mum would kick you out or anything, but I'm assuming you won't want to stay living here forever," Ginny asked, making herself comfortable on one of the towels.

Hermione absent-mindedly plucked some grass with her fingers while watching the clouds go by. "Hm, that's one of the things I meant to do today. I can't stay here forever but I haven't talked to Valerie yet. I kind of want to get back to our quaint little flat but I know that's not possible." Hermione sighed deeply, but then smiled at Ginny and took her hand, "But let's not discuss things like that right now. I said I wanted to be lazy and I meant it."

All of a sudden she jumped up and shouted, "Race you to the water!"

Ginny scrambled to her feet as quickly as she could but lost the race anyway, "You cheated!" she laughed, as they were both standing knee-deep in the water.

"No, I win!" Hermione chuckled and waded further in.

"You win what?" Ginny asked, following suit until both of them were up to their hips in the clear, cool water of the pond.

"This," Hermione said and jumped at Ginny, who only caught her because her reflexes told her to rather than stepping aside. But the force of Hermione's jump was a bit too much, especially standing on slippery, mossy rocks. Hermione wrapped herself around the surprised redhead and let the water slow their fall. Ginny held on tight to Hermione when they went under.

The brunette witch opened her eyes underwater only to find the redhead had done the same. She framed Ginny's face with her hands and drew her closer for an underwater kiss before closing her eyes again. Ginny complied and pulled the brunette witch closer with one hand while caressing the small of her back with the other, all the while keeping their kiss going.

Hermione enjoyed Ginny's ministrations and pulled the redhead even closer, playing with the strings of her girlfriend's bikini top.

She felt her lungs burning but was enjoying herself so much she really didn't want to come up for air. There was no other way though. She broke their kiss and pushed up from the ground to propel herself towards the surface of the water. Ginny followed suit and both women hastily filled their lungs with fresh air.

They had drifted off quite a bit and now had to tread water to stay afloat.

Hermione was still panting and was swimming towards the shore so she could get solid ground underneath her feet.

Ginny caught up to her to where the redhead could stand with only a bit of her shoulders being above the surface of the water.

Hermione smiled and wrapped her legs around Ginny's hips. She put her arms around Ginny's neck and gave her a peck on the lips. Ginny wrapped her arms around Hermione to hold her more comfortably.

"I like you like that!" Ginny admitted.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, not following.

"In school, you were the constant bookworm; always on about the rules and studying and so on. You always had to be convinced to let your guard down a bit. Valerie tells me that after school you relaxed a bit and came out of your shell, but we didn't have enough contact for me to notice that, did we? And now, you're all playful and carefree without even being prompted, I really enjoy this side of you," Ginny explained.

Hermione's expression turned serious again, "I'm still having troubles just letting go sometimes, giving myself permission not to work but to have fun instead. And to be honest, it didn't really help that Valerie got abducted when I was having a great night out with you. But I'm getting better at it and you're a big part of that!"

Hermione's lips were slowly turning blue and her teeth started chattering.

"Come on, let's get you out of the water. I think we have cooled off enough. Let's warm up again in the sun," Ginny said, starting to walk towards their towels in the grass. Hermione was still wrapped around the redhead and had no intention of changing that.

Athletic as she was Ginny had no problem carrying her girlfriend. She carefully put her down on the towel on the ground and let her eyes linger for a few moments when she saw her spread out like a cat in the sun, watching the pearls of water on her skin glisten in the light.

A couple of moments later, they were both lying down and enjoying the warmth of the sun. Ginny was lazily tracing circles on Hermione's arm and Hermione was playing with Ginny's hair. They simply enjoyed each other's company, even dozing off momentarily.

Their blissful peace was interrupted by Ginny's stomach, which began to growl at them after a while.

"Oh dear, let's get some food into you before you starve," Hermione joked and grabbed their packed lunch from the basket.

She was a bit peckish herself and they happily ate their sandwiches, watching the water.

When they where done, Ginny put her head into Hermione's lap and enjoyed the brunettes hands playing some more with her hair, while she stared up into the clouds, figuring out which animals they resembled. Hermione let her eyes wander.

She looked over to the forest with it's thick forage and dark leaves, the greener than green meadows around the pond, dotted with the most beautifully coloured flowers sticking out between the grass, the fields of sunflowers standing tall, like soldiers marching towards the sun, a little further down the Burrow, on fire, and right next to it a…wait, what? The Burrow is on fire!

"Ginny, get up, put on your clothes. Hurry!" Hermione said, jumping up and forcing her girlfriend to sit up too. Ginny heard the alarm in Hermione's voice and knew that something serious was going on. She didn't even bother to ask and followed her orders, practically jumping into her torn jeans shorts.

Hermione had already put on her shorts and was sticking her head into a t-shirt, when Ginny saw what was going on and sprang into action, "Oh my God, Mum and Dad! Hermione, we have to…"

"I know Ginny, I know. Here," Hermione cut her off and handed her her wand when she was dressed.

"We can't…"Hermione began her sentence, but was interrupted by the sensation of being side along apparated.

A moment later she found herself in Ginny's room. "Ginny, what the hell? I was about to say that we can't apparate right into the thick of it because who knows what is going on, and you just go ahead without thinking!" Hermione blew up in Ginny's face with a little more force than she had intended to.

"You're probably right, but my home is on fire and I have no time to discuss this now," Ginny said, annoyed at the tone Hermione had taken with her. Hermione wanted to apologize for her outburst. She knew that the woman had had nothing on her mind but helping her family, but she didn't get a chance to because Ginny rushed out the door and down the stairs to find her family. Hermione was right behind her. They could hear the distinct sounds of cracking wood that was giving way to the fire. There was smoke everywhere and it smelled like being in a furnace. Hermione's eyes quickly began to water and she started coughing.

"Mum? Dad?" Ginny shouted, but nobody answered. Ginny coughed too and tried to cover her nose with her arm, as if that would help against the smoke. She shot a desperate look at Hermione, mostly to see if she had come up with a plan, when suddenly they heard George scream outside.

Ginny rushed to the door and opened it without thinking. Hermione had just enough time to throw up a shield charm to avoid the redhead getting hit with an unknown spell. They both rushed off to where they could now see Ginny's parents holding up a shield to keep George form getting hit with spells as he bowed down over Valerie, who was lying crumpled on the floor, not moving.

_No. No! Not after everything. No!_

Hermione didn't think, she just started running, not thinking about the crossfire around her. Ginny saw what her girlfriend was doing and cast a shield around them while running along.

George was shaking Valerie when Hermione fell to the ground next to him.

"Valerie! Val!" she shrieked. But there was no reaction.

There were still spells coming from everywhere, but Ginny couldn't see enough with all the smoke and the fire, so she kept helping her parents with the shield. Occasionally, firing stunners perchance they might find their target.

"What happened?" she shouted, addressing her father.

"All was quiet, we were minding our own business when suddenly the fire erupted, and when we went to look there were spells out of nowhere. I tried to put out the fire, but look at it. It's not normal," Arthur answered, sweaty from the heat and the casting.

Ginny turned her head and saw a giant dragon made of fire breathe more fire onto the structure of the house.

Suddenly the glass windows burst and showered them in a thousand tiny pieces of glass.

"We need to get out of here!" Ginny shouted, brushing off some of the glass from her shoulder. She bowed down, while still holding up her shield, "Hermione, we need to get out of here. We can't keep up the shields forever!"

But Hermione didn't react. She was still trying to determine whether her friend was breathing or had a pulse. But it was proving to be exceedingly difficult with all the noise and heat and smoke. She thought she had felt her heartbeat but then again, it could have been wishful thinking. It was no use, "George, take her to Hogwarts. Poppy will know what to do. Apparate to the gates and send your Patronus. I don't know if she'd be safe in St. Mungo's, being a Muggle and all. But McGonagall won't send her away if she sees you're with her," Hermione pleaded. She fully expected his resistance. She was sure he would argue that he couldn't just up and leave a fight like this and his parents and sister to face an unknown threat but he simply nodded. Tears were streaming down his face as he lifted Valerie's limp body and he was gone the next moment.

With Valerie gone, Hermione felt a rage rising inside her that she hadn't felt since she had worn the Horcrux necklace. She felt white-hot anger bubbling up inside.

She put up a shield around herself and went to where she saw the spells coming from.

Ginny grabbed her arm, but she shrugged her off and went ahead.

"What are you doing? Come back! Hermione!" Ginny shouted, but she saw her father's shield weaken and went to help him out.

"Where are you, you coward? Hiding behind a wall of smoke? Coming with a whole army because you're too afraid to face me alone? You pathetic excuse for a man, come out and look me in the eye if you have the balls!" Hermione screamed into the smoke, not caring that her lungs pleaded for her not to.

The fire dragon on the roof of the burrow hissed in response and Hermione turned to look for the first time. All colour left her face. _Fiendfyre._

But it was too late to turn back now. She kept up her shield and she kept walking, when suddenly the crossfire stopped.

There was still a lot of smoke that the wind was blowing over from the burning house but some of it was lifted and they could see a row of Death Eaters standing around the Burrow and a couple of feet in front of Hermione was Lucius Malfoy, standing tall with his wand at the ready. A few feet behind him was Draco, kneeling awkwardly on the floor and clearly in pain. He had a black eye and one of his arms hung limply down his side. He was sweating and gritting his teeth in pain and concentration.

Hermione followed the tip of his wand and realised it was Draco controlling the Fiendfyre, but barely.

"Miss Granger, how very Gryffindor of you to just walk into the crossfire," Lucius said, a patronising tone in his voice. It was clear that he didn't think much of her house's trademark attribute.

Hermione just glared at him and some of the Death Eaters around wouldn't have been surprised if Lucius had dropped dead right then. If anyone had ever been able to cast a wandless and silent killing curse it would have been Hermione in this instant. This was the man who had not only made it possible for Voldemort to rise again and cause countless deaths, he was also the one responsible for hunting Valerie, abducting Valerie, and possibly kil…hurting Valerie. Hermione seethed.

"Call off your dragon, send your Death Eaters away. Let's settle this, once and for all!" Hermione called.

"How about this. You come willingly and maybe I'll spare the lives of your beloved blood traitors," Lucius snarled.

"NO! Never!" Ginny yelled at Lucius. She had inched closer and closer until she was just a few feet behind Hermione and was now standing next to her.

Hermione glanced nervously at Draco, who was struggling to keep the fire under his control. She had to come up with a plan in case he lost it. Fiendfyre wasn't just stopped. The one time she was confronted with it she had trapped it in the Room of Requirement, where it probably suffocated after burning everything in there.

_How the bloody hell am I supposed to stop Fiendfyre like that?_

Lucius saw her concern and said in his eerie high-pitched voice, "Are you worried about poor Draco here? I hear he's been helping your Muggle escape. Well, as you can see, I've persuaded him to come back to where he belongs."

Draco was clutching his wand with both hands, staring fiercely at the fire he was slowly losing control over. He didn't dare look away for even one moment but he muttered something, just loud enough for Hermione hear, "Valerie?"

Tears stung in Hermione's blood shot eyes. The smoke had really done a number on them, but these new tears were not from the smoke.

"I don't know, Draco," she said in a low voice.

"How touching," Lucius snarled before kicking Draco in the shoulder. The young man screamed in pain and for a moment forgot to keep his focus on the Fiendfyre. The fire dragon roared and hissed and blew its fiery breath high into the air before circling around the house a couple of times. It looked spectacular but also quite deadly and frightening.

"Fuck!" Draco yelled, desperately clutching his wand, trying to regain control of the fire beast, but he already seemed to know it was useless. Once lost not even the best of wizards would be able to regain control over Fiendfyre. They were doomed.

Lucius was laughing madly and his Death Eaters joined in hesitantly so as not to upset their new leader. Much like with the old one it was hard to regain the boss' favour once it was lost.

"You know, the fire is eventually going to kill you. We could just stand here and watch until it is done," Lucius explained as if talking to a little child.

"Only it would kill you too. Fiendfyre doesn't differentiate between friend or foe, you git!" Ginny growled. She didn't like the tone he took with her girlfriend and she certainly didn't like how he had ignored her presence completely.

And as if on cue the dragon swept over the field surrounding the Burrow, setting every crop aflame. They were trapped. Hermione could see that the Death Eaters were starting to get nervous. She chanced a glance back at the Weasleys. Molly clung to Arthur but had her wand at the ready, as did her husband. She looked ready to kill. Someone was threatening her home and her family; there were consequences. Bellatrix Lestrange could tell a story about that. Or rather, she couldn't anymore.

Hermione saw Lucius façade falter a bit. His confidence seemed to crumble, unsure of the uncontrolled Fiendfyre around him.

The ring of fire around them seemed to tighten and the Death Eaters started to fight the burning fields with Aguamenti, but as soon as they had put out a fire the dragon would sweep in to ignite it again, taking one or two Death Eaters with it.

Draco crawled closer to his father, Hermione, and Ginny, away from the fire. He stumbled to his feet, panting heavily. "Father, this is a losing battle, you have to give yourself up. The Aurors will be here soon enough," Draco pleaded for an end to the madness.

Hermione saw the first Death Eaters apparate out. Soon it was just a handful of very unsure Death Eaters against the three Weasleys and Hermione.

Draco stumbled further in Hermione's direction, leaving his father behind. This felt a bit familiar to him but this time around he was sure about it.

Lucius looked at his son with a combination of disgust, disbelief, and fury. He flicked his wand and sent a stunner in Draco's direction but Ginny was quicker and put up a shield to deflect the spell.

"Filthy blood traitor, how dare you?" Lucius snarled and sent another round of spells, this time at Ginny. She deflected them all.

Draco had finally managed to make it all the way to Hermione and Ginny. His breath was ragged and he could barely stand but he was going to fight and this time he would do it for the right side. And he wouldn't go back. Ever.

The fire was getting worse and worse, and the efforts of the remaining Death Eaters to quench at least some of it was getting less and less effective.

There was not much time left until they'd all need to just apparate out and then Lucius would be gone from their grasp.

"What do you want, Lucius? Can't you see that you can't win this?" Hermione yelled at the blond man in front of her.

"I want you to pay. I want you to pay for sending me to that vile place instead of simply confining me to my home. I want you to suffer as I have suffered every day in Azkaban," Lucius hissed.

"You're a right little shit, do you know that? You kidnapped my friend and you…you possibly even killed her. You set fire to the place I feel most at home at in the world, only because you can't accept the consequences to your own actions? You disgust me," Hermione shouted on top of her voice. She had worked herself up to a point of anger not even Ron or Harry had managed to make her reach.

"I've had enough. You're done for, Malfoy," Hermione added and started swishing her wand and muttering something under her breath. A huge ball of transparent magic exploded from the tip of her wand and expanded until it formed a protective bubble around all of them, friends and foes alike. Then Hermione cast a second, much bigger bubble trapping the Fiendfyre between two layers of magic. Hermione swished her wand again and almost instantly the two layers began to draw closer to each other, compressing the fire between them, slowly transforming into a ball.

Nobody moved. Everyone stared at Hermione as she held the ball of Fiendfyre until it vanished completely.

Hermione then changed her focus to Lucius, "You're looking at the witch that just made out-of-control Fiendfyre vanish. Do you still think you stand a chance against me, Malfoy? It doesn't matter how many men you bring. You will lose. Give up now!" she growled.

Ginny looked at her. In that moment, Hermione was not only the brightest witch of her age; she was also the most dangerous one. She had never seen or even heard of anyone defeating Fiendfyre. She couldn't have explained it. From the looks of it neither could any other person present. The last Death Eaters apparated, and left Lucius to fend for himself.

Lucius Malfoy fell to his knees and started begging to be left alive. He was afraid, like he had never been afraid before and whimpered and wept miserably. Hermione silently cast a body bind spell on the pathetic figure and he dropped to the ground, still in his pleading position.

Hermione looked at Ginny, her eyes dark with danger and power and something Ginny didn't wish to ever see again on the brunette witch: pain and grief so intense it hurt to look at her. "Send a Patronus to Harry. He can come collect a parcel I have wrapped for him." Hermione cawed, her voice almost gone from breathing in all that smoke.

With that she disapparated, leaving the Weasleys with a burnt house, fields reduced to ashes, one injured Malfoy and a body bound one.

"Hermio…ne," Ginny called when she saw her girlfriend disappear in front of her. She had no clue where she had gone and where to find her. So she kicked Lucius Malfoy in the shin.

"Don't," she felt his hand on her shoulder as Draco continued to speak ,"he'll get what he deserves. You're better than that."

Ginny turned around and for the first time she fully saw Draco for the man he had become and not for the boy he had been.

She had tears in her eyes from the smoke, from the frustration of not knowing where Hermione had gone to, and the wreck that was her childhood home.

"Come on, let's see if we can clean you up a bit," Ginny said and helped Draco back to where her Mother and Father were standing.

Molly immediately descended on the blond man, healing a couple of obvious cuts and bruises.

"We have to get you to St. Mungo's. I can't do anything about the rest of your injuries here now," Molly said, coughing and crying at the sight of her burnt home.

"And I think we should all get a check up anyway. All this smoke can't be very healthy," Arthur added.

Ginny nodded, whispered something to her wand and sent her Patronus on the way, hoping that wherever she was Hermione would get her message.


	17. Chapter 17

_A/N: Hi everyone,_

_This is the last chapter. It's done. I want to thank kyresar for being my beta read and my wife for her editing as well. Thanks to everyone who wrote reviews and PM's, I REALLY appreciate it. And thank you to everyone who read and enjoyed the story, I hope you had as much fun reading as I had writing it._

_Thank you!_

**Chapter 17**

Hermione arrived at the gates of Hogwarts utterly drained. She had taken a quick look to make sure the remaining Weasley's were alright before apparating away to find Valerie.

Despite the violent coughing the fiendfyre had caused and the cuts from the glass that had rained down on her earlier she broke into a run. She didn't want to lose any more time.

In her head she kept debating whether it had been the right decision to just up and leave. Her guilty conscience was tugging at her. She should've at least told Ginny where she was going. "How could I forget to tell her?" Hermione kept reprimanding her own behaviour in her head while running towards the familiar castle and then through the corridors she knew so well.

Her lungs were screaming for air, her brain trying to drill a hole into her skull, and her eyes were so bloodshot from the smoke she could barely see. But the thought of losing Valerie kept her moving.

She turned the last corner and ran down the hallway towards the hospital wing. Poppy Pomfrey was already waiting for her at the door. The coughing must have alerted her to Hermione's imminent arrival. The nurse was standing in the middle of the doorway, preventing Hermione from entering or seeing inside.

"You…let me…Valerie…," Hermione got out between coughs. She was wheezing, her whole body asking for permission to collapse – and not in a polite way – but before she could allow it to she needed to know about her friend.

"Miss Granger, calm down. You need to lie down and let me examine you," Madame Pomfrey said, gently reaching for Hermione's arm. Her voice was strict but palpably concerned.

Hermione was desperately trying to catch her breath and get the coughing under control but it was no use. By then she was coughing so bad that she actually doubled over, clutching her stomach with one hand and holding onto the doorframe for some stability with the other. "Valerie!" she bellowed, half hoping to make herself clear to Madame Pomfrey, half hoping her friend might hear her.

"Miss Granger, do _not_ shout around in my hospital! I can see that you're in some distress, and if this is about your Muggle friend I can tell you right now she won't be able to answer because she is currently unconscious. Now get in here and let me see how I can help you get rid of this ghastly cough," Madame Pomfrey said, shooting Hermione a look against which even she wouldn't dare protest.

_Unconscious is good. Unconscious isn't dead._

When Hermione let herself be led into the Hospital wing she spotted a figure sitting next to a bed in the distance but her eyes were refusing to focus properly.

"Sit down," Madame Pomfrey said and pointed to one of the beds. Hermione followed her orders without protest.

The seasoned nurse swished her wand a couple of times and muttered to herself but Hermione didn't really care. She was otherwise occupied: Her undersupplied brain was crying for oxygen while her guilty conscience was still plaguing her about leaving Ginny alone. And she wanted to know what was going on with Valerie. But she knew better than to try and talk right now.

Madame Pomfrey waved her wand a couple of times and several vials and bottles came flying from the supply cabinet and arranged themselves neatly on the bedside table.

She picked one of the bottles, unstoppered it and handed it to Hermione, "Bottoms up, Miss Granger."

Hermione tried to stop coughing long enough to swallow the bitter tasting liquid. When it was all gone her cough was already beginning to slowly subside. Healing with magic was truly… well, magical.

"Thank you. Now can you please tell me what happened to Valerie? Is she alright? And George?," Hermione asked. Now that her cough was almost gone, she realised that she kept squinting, uselessly, because of her eyes.

"Miss Granger, I have examined your friend and treated her wounds. I'm sorry to say that she was hit square in the chest with a stunning spell. Now, if you remember what that did to Minerva McGonagall a couple of years ago you can imagine how your friend is doing. She got away with her life, but barely. She'll need plenty of rest and care," Madame Pomfrey explained eventually, "But from what I can tell, she is in good hands," she added, smirking in the direction of where Hermione had seen a person sitting next to a bed before.

Squinting into that same direction again now she couldn't really make out much more with her bloodshot, teary eyes. She could, however, discern that it was a redhead sitting there: George.

Hermione smiled and finally gave in to her body's pleading. Or maybe, she wondered, there had been something in that cough potion. She blacked out.

When Hermione came to it was pitch black around her. She couldn't see a thing. In fact, she couldn't even open her eyes. She lifted her arms, ignoring that they felt like lead, and touched her hands to her eyes. A blindfold.

"Hermione, don't be scared. It's going to be just fine."

_Ginny!_

"You need to leave the blindfold on for a bit longer though. Your eyes were pretty badly affected by the smoke," Ginny's voice said in the most reassuring tone she had in her repertoire. Hermione smiled and let herself sink into the warm sound. She felt Ginny take her hand and Hermione squeezed it before speaking, "I'm so sorry for just leaving. I wasn't thinking. Or maybe I thought too much, too quickly. Maybe…"

"Shhh," Ginny's voice interrupted her, "Don't worry. I'm here now. It will all be alright."

"How is Valerie?" Hermione asked, "and George? Where is he?"

"They are both fine. George is as good as new and Valerie is sleeping right now, but she will be ok. She just needs some rest. I spoke to her earlier and explained to her what happened; Or, at least, almost everything. You still owe us all an explanation, Miss most-dangerous-witch-of-her-age," Ginny answered.

Hermione swallowed. She wasn't used to this title and not sure she liked it much. She took a deep breath and said, "Muggle physics," as if that explained it all.

She didn't even have to be able to see Ginny to know the look on her face. Hermione sighed and launched into one of her lengthy explanations, "I didn't know what to do with the Fiendfyre and while I was busy being angry at Malfoy my mind tried to find something on how to get rid of out of control Fiendfyre. But all I had ever read about it was that there is really nothing one can do. I saw it closing in on us and I started to panic. So when there was really nothing we could do except apparate out and leave everything to the fire I remembered reading about something Muggles call Physics. It's a science that – apart from other things – studies energy and force."

At this point Ginny scrunched up her face in concentration. She had a hard time following what Hermione was saying but nobody could blame her for not trying.

"So, fire needs oxygen as fuel to burn. I assumed – or hoped – that Fiendfyre does the same. And so, what I did, essentially, was to trap the Fiendfyre between two airtight layers of magical energy. By doing that I could shrink the fire AND starve it by taking away its oxygen supply," Hermione finished her little lecture.

She lifted her hand to search for Ginny's face. Her other hand was still holding onto Ginny's. Softly she stroked her girlfriend's cheek with her thumb.

"Wow, Hermione. You really are scarily smart. I can't say I've understood everything, but I'm glad it turned out to work. I'm happy we're all ok and that nutter is behind bars again," Ginny said, softly pushing Hermione back to make her lie down again, "Harry promised me he would make sure that Malfoy wouldn't escape again," she added.

Hermione smiled. That was good news indeed.

"I love you, Ginny," Hermione said.

"I love you too," Ginny answered and then kissed her surprised girlfriend.

"OY! Get a room, you two!" George was laughing as he walked closer.

"Hi, George," Hermione said, when Ginny broke the kiss, "Thank you for saving Valerie. And thanks for not debating with me over the whole taking her to Hogwarts thing."

"Hermione, don't worry about it. I was about to suggest I take her to Madame Pomfrey myself when you said it. I…we…I wouldn't have been able to forgive myself had anything happened to her, you know," George stammered.

Ginny and Hermione smirked a little before Hermione just quickly said, "Well, thanks anyway."

The next day, Poppy Pomfrey took off Hermione's blindfold and after a few minutes Hermione had adjusted to the light and was as good as new.

"Thank you, Madame Pomfrey. I feel great. Am I allowed to go home now?" Hermione asked. She was hoping to get back to the Burrow and to Ginny. She didn't mind being in her old school, but she'd rather not stay in the hospital wing any longer than she had to. Valerie was in good hands, and now that she knew that Malfoy hadn't killed her she didn't need to stay with her all day.

"Of course you are free to go. Miss Cox is asleep now and Mister Weasley is just outside to stretch his legs. But the Headmistress has asked for you to come by her offices before you leave. Maybe if you do that first Miss Cox will wake up in the meantime so you can have a quick chat with her before you leave," Madam Pomfrey offered.

Hermione walked the short distance and stopped at the gargoyle guarding the Headmistress' office.

"I don't know the password," the young woman muttered more to herself than anyone.

"Then I can't let you up," the gargoyle answered.

Hermione almost jumped out of her skin.

"You speak!"

"No, I'm just a puppet with somebody's hand up my arse. Of course, I speak!" the gargoyle answered indignantly.

"I know! It's just that I've never heard it before!" Hermione said excitedly but was taken aback when she could have sworn the gargoyle rolled its eyes at her.

"Would you be able to let the Headmistress know, that I'd like to see her?" Hermione asked politely.

"I speak. I do not move unless somebody knows the password," the gargoyle explained, obviously annoyed at the stupidity he had to deal with.

"Great. A quarter of a million words in the English _Muggle_ dictionary alone and I'm supposed to guess which one she chose," Hermione said, throwing her hands in the air in a motion of frustration.

The young witch started pacing up and down in front of the gargoyle.

"I'm not the Room of Requirement. Walking in front of me won't reveal anything," the gargoyle scoffed.

"Oh shut up, you… you… uch. Can you at least give me a hint?" Hermione almost started arguing but calmed down after realising that she was conversing with a gargoyle.

"I'm not a sphinx either. Maybe you should head to the Library. It would do you good to read a book every once in a while, you know," the gargoyle said, very happy with himself.

"Listen up, gargoyle, you're talking to me here, Hermione Jean Granger and telling me I'm stupid is not a very clever thing to do. You either give me a hint now or I'll blow your head off!" Hermione growled, "I'll blow it from here all the way to the Library, if you like," she added.

"Ok, ok, no need to threaten me. You magic folk are all the same. Always so ready to use your wands before you use your heads," the gargoyle gave in, "The password is a tribute to something or someone."

Hermione sighed. This didn't really help all that much, "Dumbledore," she tried.

"No," the gargoyle simply said.

"Montrose Magpies," Hermoine tried her former teacher's favourite Quidditch team. Harry would've been proud to know she had listened to him and Ron going on endlessly about the teams at almost every meal in the Great Hall.

"Good guess, but no," the gargoyle seemed to be rather enjoying himself, "Go on, then."

"Ugh. It could be anyone or anything. How about Snape?" Hermione tried.

"No. Sorry."

"Potter."

"No. But keep going," the gargoyle tried to help again.

"This is infuriating," Hermione spoke through clenched teeth and ran her fingers through her hair. Why was it that Muggles had doorbells and Wizards didn't?

"Keep at it. You'll get there," the gargoyle said, unable to hide a smirk.

He was clearly having fun with this.

"BRADFORD!" a voice shrieked across the hallway.

Hermione turned on the spot so fast she would've apparated had it not been impossible on school grounds.

Her old Transfiguration teacher was rushing down the hallway towards Hermione and the gargoyle.

When she arrived she gave the gargoyle one of the sternest looks Hermione had ever seen her give anyone and said, "Bradford, I told you to let her up when she arrived!"

The gargoyle seemed to lower his head in shame.

"I'm sorry, Miss Granger, I didn't know when you would be coming or I would have spared you this little annoyance," McGonagall said, her features softening as she looked at her favourite student.

"Please, after you," she added and motioned for Hermione to go up. When Hermione took a step forward, however, nothing happened. "Bradford!" McGonagall shrieked.

"I'm sorry, Headmistress, but I can't work the stairs without the correct password. It's not my fault, it's magic," the gargoyle whined, looking pitiful.

"Alright then. 'Dobby'," Minerva said softly and looked back at Hermione as the stairs began to move.

Hermione looked at the older woman in surprise.

"Oh don't look at me like that. Without him we would all be dead," McGonagall said sternly.

When she entered the spacious room, Hermione stood and looked at how the office had transformed from Dumbledore's to so obviously McGonagall's.

Instead of the brass and silver knick-knacks there were now fascinating transfigured items on her desk. Not quite one thing not quite the other. There was fountain pen that kept changing into a quill and back, a miniature replica of Edinburgh castle that changed into something that distinctly looked like Hogwarts, and an old box that was open and looked a lot like these musical boxes that were wound up and played a tune while the little ballerina spun. Only this ballerina sat on the edge of the box, dangling her feet in boredom, waiting for someone to wind it up again.

Just like before, however, there were books of all colours, sizes and ages. Some Hermione recognized from having been in Dumbledore's office but some were new additions.

"Please, do sit down Miss Granger," the Headmistress pulled Hermione out of her reverie.

She saw her motion towards one of the two wooden chairs in front of the desk and followed her offer. Once she had sat down the chair transformed into one of those overstuffed chairs that Hermione remembered from the Gryffindor common room. The young witch couldn't help but wonder if everything in this office had fallen victim to her old Professor's favourite subject.

"Miss Granger, you're probably wondering why I asked you to come here," Minerva McGonagall began and Hermione nodded, "I know I probably shouldn't say this, but you have always been one of my favourite students."

Hermione had trouble hiding a grin. She knew that teachers weren't supposed to have favourites but it was good to hear that they were only human too, especially when that favourite was you.

McGonagall continued, "So, naturally, I come to you first with this. And given the most recent events of your life, I'm hoping my proposition will stand a much better chance now. You see, I find myself a bit short-staffed."

Hermione had an inkling where this was going and sat up straighter in her comfortable chair.

"Professors Vector and Trelawney have informed me that they are going to retire after the school year is done and I will have to find replacements for both of them," the Headmistress continued her explanations.

"Professor, I… I'm not sure what you're saying here, but if you're offering me a job… I mean, you know, I've already got one," Hermione said and inwardly rolled her eyes at her inability to form a coherent sentence.

"Miss Granger, I am fully aware of your employment with the Ministry," Minerva McGonagall answered, sounding slightly annoyed, "but I also know that your job has caused quite a bit of trouble for you and I was thinking, or hoping really, that you might find yourself interested in a bit of change. I'm not enough of a fool to offer you the Divination post, but maybe you could think about becoming the next Arithmancy teacher," McGonagall finished.

Hermione had trouble finding her words but tried anyway, "Professor, I'm incredibly honoured. I admit I am flattered that you would think of me in such a situation, but I do love the job I have now. I took it for a reason and I feel that reason has not yet lost its purpose for me. Please, let me elaborate," Hermione began when she saw her former Professor's face lined with disappointment, "I know I was sorted into Gryffindor for a reason and I'm aware that I have played a somewhat important part in the war. However, I am not fond of physical violence and have always preferred to fight my battles with words. This is exactly what I'm doing now. I am helping our society return to normal, to become better by putting away those responsible for the war. I'm cleaning up the mess we've made, if you will. I wouldn't feel comfortable letting others do that for me," Hermione finished her explanation and exhaled audibly.

"Don't worry, Miss Granger. I fully understand your reasons, but please know that I will always come to you first whenever there is a job opening. I believe our future generations could benefit greatly from your experience and knowledge. And should you ever be weary of your current job there will always be a place for you here at Hogwarts," Minerva McGonagall said calmly. She was well aware of Hermione's ever present need to please and wanted to make sure the young witch didn't think she had disappointed her.

Before they could turn to more pleasant topics the flames in the Headmistress' fireplace turned green and a second later Percy Weasley stepped into the office.

"Headmistress McGonagall, I am sorry to interrupt you unannounced, "Percy said pompously while plucking an imaginary piece of lint from his immaculate robes. "I see you have company. Hello Hermione, I hope you have recovered from your recent experiences at my dear parents' home."

He straightened up and cleared his throat. Hermione used the time to shoot McGonagall a pitying look. After all she had to deal with Percy almost on a daily basis since he had been appointed Director of the Department of Education.

Finally Percy continued, "I was appointed by the Minister himself to issue this communiqué because of my unique position to penetrate the defensive blocking spell applied to this strategically significant fireplace. I have…"

"Mister Weasley, get to the point! I'm not getting any younger and I don't plan to stay on as a ghost, you know," McGonagall said, glaring impatiently at Percy.

Percy looked at the Headmistress, eyes wide with shock.

"Oh for Merlin's sake, Percy, not even I talk like that! Do you have a message now or do you want to verbally duel a dictionary?" Hermione chided him and her glare was an irritatingly accurate copy of McGonagall's.

Faced with two rather impatient witches Percy thought it was best to keep it short and simple, "Minister Shacklebolt has just heard about the goings on and wants Mr Malfoy tried by the end of the week. He is asking you, Hermione, to make all the necessary preparations."

Hermione turned white as a sheet and stammered, "But… there… the trial was not scheduled to be before next year. Even if I omit everything he has done prior to the war and forgo sleep until the trial I won't be able to pull everything together in time."

"Hermione, if anyone can do it, you can," Percy said, granting her one of his very rare gracious moments.

"Mister Weasley, I have the utmost confidence in Miss Granger, but I agree, it cannot be done. Especially, since our key witness is currently still in a hospital bed. She will be there for the next couple of weeks while Miss Granger prepares for the trial. Tell Kingsley that the time of the trial will be set by Miss Granger and Miss Granger alone. If he has a problem with that, he is very welcome to come by in person and discuss it with me," Professor McGonagall said sternly.

Everyone knew that tone. Her statement was final and it would remain that way.

Percy nodded curtly and said his elaborate goodbyes before disappearing into the fireplace.

"With a family like his I really wonder how he turned out to be such a… a… a numpty," the older witch sighed and Hermione bit back a chuckle.

A few weeks later Hermione rose from her usual seat in the courtroom and gathered her things. The next trial was about to begin and for this one she wasn't allowed in her allotted place beside the minister.

She walked over to the visitor's bench where Ginny, George, Ron, Harry, Valerie and the Weasley parents were already sat down. The room was filling up fast and a lot of other spectators were sitting down around them.

Ginny and Valerie made some room for Hermione between them and Ginny immediately put her arm around Hermione's waist and drew her closer.

Some of them would be called up to the stand to give their statements later, but it was perfectly fine for them to sit with the rest of the visitors. This was it, Hermione thought. This would finally keep Lucius Malfoy behind bars in Azkaban. She had made sure their case was airtight. He would get life in a high security cell, there was no question about it.

Hermione saw George squeezing Valerie's hand and whisper words of encouragement into her ear. Or maybe not. At least Hermione couldn't come up with any words of encouragement that would make Valerie blush.

She playfully smacked Valerie on her arm and whispered, "Can't you two behave for a second? You're in a court room!" But Hermione just couldn't keep her face straight and gave the two of them a smile.

She turned around and saw Draco in the last row, seemingly trying to hide away from the publicity he was about the get.

Molly saw Hermione looking and followed her gaze. She spied the blond man sitting all alone and furrowed her brow before speaking, "Draco, dear, what are you doing up there all alone. Come sit here with us. All the family sit down here!"

Hermione would later swear she had seen a couple of tears trickle down Draco's face as he was pulled into a typical Molly hug when he sat down next to the Weasleys. Draco would, of course, deny such a ridiculous notion.

Suddenly, the voice of a court clerk was heard, "Everyone rise for Minister Shacklebolt! The trial in the case of Lucius Malfoy vs. the Ministry of Magic is about to begin!"

_A/N: I want to say thank you again. and as mentioned last time, I'm already starting to work on another story. And even though it might take a while for me to post it, I can already promise you that it will of course be a Harry Potter story with my favourite pairing :)_

_Hope to see you around!_


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